Child Health Care in Israel.

Israel is a relatively rapidly growing country with a high fertility rate and a young population. These data emphasize the importance of an efficient and appropriate pediatric service for its population. Although the pediatric service in Israel has attained several achievements, such as a relatively low infant mortality, high vaccination rates, and a primary care service that is mainly based on licensed pediatricians, several challenges, such as overcoming inequalities in health care and health indices between different regions and different populations within the country and the provision of a more organized mental and dental health care service to children, need to be addressed.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in pediatric patients: our experience in the last ten years.

Background: The use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in children after cardiac surgery is well established. ECMO support is becoming an integral tool for cardiopulmonary resuscitation in specified centers.

Objectives: To review our use of ECMO over a 10 year period.

Circumstances leading to the formulation and implementation of a new TB control program in Israel: a case study in public health and policy.

We describe how Israel effected new tuberculosis programs and policies beginning in the early 1990s. We explain how the epidemiology of the disease, particular events, and a small number of people influenced the creation of new policy. We believe that this story may be useful to other program managers and policymakers interested in changing course.

[Migrant workers: evolution of the Israel health system approach to the new social issue].

The immigration of workers from poor countries to Israel began in earnest in 1993, and by 2003 their number had reached 250,000, the majority without work permits. In this article we describe the evolution of the Israeli approach to providing health services to migrant workers, noting particularly the swings between exclusion and inclusion, ranging from providing only the most minimal services to providing a complete health services package. The National Insurance Institute was the first to provide benefits to documented migrant workers, mandating compensation benefits for those injured at work or in terrorist incidents.

[The new national program for tuberculosis elimination in Israel].

Background: The rise in the incidence of TB in Israel, mostly due to immigration from endemic areas, led to the establishment of a new TB control program which follows the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO). Reorganization of the TB infrastructure was enabled by specific legislative, administrative and budgetary measures initiated by the Ministry of Health (MOH) in conjunction with the Sick Funds.

Aim: To present the theoretical and practical aspects of this new program to the physicians of Israel.