Title : From crisis to care: Adapting lessons from Thailand to improve healthcare as a human right in the Northern triangle
Abstract:
Millions of individuals from the Northern Triangle—Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador—lack access to quality healthcare, with many residents traveling for hours only to be denied appointments due to overcrowding. Public healthcare facilities that boast free or low-cost services face frequent staff, medicine, and supply shortages, due to inadequate government funding. This causes families to turn to private healthcare, where they spend their life savings on medical care for their loved ones. This is all while the Northern Triangle consists of some of the poorest nations in the world, making the solution to their healthcare problems increasingly complex. When identifying beneficial changes to the healthcare systems of the Northern Triangle it can be useful to look at the successes of a country with a more advanced healthcare system, despite dealing with similar economic conditions. Through interviews, examination of federal legislation, health profiles, peer-reviewed journals, and news articles, this paper identifies Thailand, a country with similar financial resources, as a compatible healthcare model for the Northern Triangle. The paper begins with an in-depth analysis of the shortcomings of the healthcare systems of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Subsequently, the successes of Thailand’s healthcare delivery strategies are identified and suggested as future policy and program implementations. These implementations include an affordable copayment system, an independent anti-corruption commission, rural recruitment programs, and rural provider benefits. If these improvements are embraced, the Northern Triangle will witness a profound transformation in its healthcare system and will be a step closer to a future in which all residents can receive affordable, quality healthcare for their families.
