Universal health coverage in Turkey: enhancement of equity.

Turkey has successfully introduced health system changes and provided its citizens with the right to health to achieve universal health coverage, which helped to address inequities in financing, health service access, and health outcomes. We trace the trajectory of health system reforms in Turkey, with a particular emphasis on 2003-13, which coincides with the Health Transformation Program (HTP). The HTP rapidly expanded health insurance coverage and access to health-care services for all citizens, especially the poorest population groups, to achieve universal health coverage. We analyse the contextual drivers that shaped the transformations in the health system, explore the design and implementation of the HTP, identify the factors that enabled its success, and investigate its effects. Our findings suggest that the HTP was instrumental in achieving universal health coverage to enhance equity substantially, and led to quantifiable and beneficial effects on all health system goals, with an improved level and distribution of health, greater fairness in financing with better financial protection, and notably increased user satisfaction. After the HTP, five health insurance schemes were consolidated to create a unified General Health Insurance scheme with harmonised and expanded benefits. Insurance coverage for the poorest population groups in Turkey increased from 2·4 million people in 2003, to 10·2 million in 2011. Health service access increased across the country-in particular, access and use of key maternal and child health services improved to help to greatly reduce the maternal mortality ratio, and under-5, infant, and neonatal mortality, especially in socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. Several factors helped to achieve universal health coverage and improve outcomes. These factors include economic growth, political stability, a comprehensive transformation strategy led by a transformation team, rapid policy translation, flexible implementation with continuous learning, and simultaneous improvements in the health system, on both the demand side (increased health insurance coverage, expanded benefits, and reduced cost-sharing) and the supply side (expansion of infrastructure, health human resources, and health services).

A community-based iron supplementation program, "Iron-Like Turkey", and the following prevalence of anemia among infants aged 12-23 months.

During the second year of the "Iron-like Turkey" Project, in which all children aged 4-6 months in Turkey receive iron supplementation for 5 months, we aimed to assess the utilization of iron supplementation in the field, as well as the prevalence of anemia in healthy infants aged 12-23 months, while determining a variety of sociodemographic and nutritional factors for anemia in three of the 12 NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) regions (regions with the highest, lowest and middle under-5 malnutrition levels). In a community-based, cross-sectional survey using a multi-staged, weighted, cluster-selected sample, children aged 12-23 months with birthweight ≥2500 g, no chronic illness, no history of blood disease, and from term and singleton pregnancy were enrolled; 1589 children met the criteria. The mean±SD age of children surveyed was 17.8±3.6 months. Of the parents, 72.4% claimed that their physician had recommended iron supplementation, and 68.8% had given supplementation to their children. Overall prevalence of anemia was 7.3%. Multivariate analysis revealed that the frequency of anemia decreased significantly in older infants, when supplementation was recommended by health providers, when an infant was breastfed longer than 6 months, and when the mother received iron supplementation during pregnancy. However, anemia prevalence increased when the infant received iron supplementation at a later age (³9 months), lived in a crowded family (³6 persons), and when the mother had a history of iron deficiency anemia. Anemic infants had significantly lower z scores of weight for age than non-anemic ones. This survey suggests that iron supplementation during pregnancy, initiation of iron supplementation in infants at 4-6 months of age, effective counseling on supplementation, subsequent compliance, support of breastfeeding, and effective training of health care personnel are effective strategies for prevention of anemia in the community.

Effect of primary health care reforms in Turkey on health service utilization and user satisfaction.

Strengthening primary health care (PHC) is considered a priority for efficient and responsive health systems, but empirical evidence from low- and middle-income countries is limited. The stepwise introduction of family medicine across all 81 provinces of Turkey (a middle-income country) between 2005 and 2010, aimed at PHC strengthening, presents a natural experiment for assessing the effect of family medicine on health service utilization and user satisfaction.The effect of health system reforms, that introduced family medicine, on utilization was assessed using longitudinal, province-level data for 12 years and multivariate regression models adjusting for supply-side variables, demographics, socio-economic development and underlying yearly trends. User satisfaction with primary and secondary care services was explored using data from annual Life Satisfaction Surveys. Trends in preferred first point of contact (primary vs secondary, public vs. private), reason for choice and health services issues, were described and stratified by patient characteristics, provider type, and rural/urban settings.Between 2002 and 2013, the average number of PHC consultations increased from 1.75 to 2.83 per person per year. In multivariate models, family medicine introduction was associated with an increase of 0.37 PHC consultations per person (P < 0.001), and slower annual growth in PHC and secondary care consultations. Following family medicine introduction, the growth of PHC and secondary care consultations per person was 0.08 and 0.30, respectively, a year. PHC increased as preferred provider by 9.5% over 7 years with the reasons of proximity and service satisfaction, which increased by 14.9% and 11.8%, respectively. Reporting of poor facility hygiene, difficulty getting an appointment, poor physician behaviour and high costs of health care all declined (P < 0.001) in PHC settings, but remained higher among urban, low-income and working-age populations.

Nationwide Smoking Cessation Treatment Support Program--Turkey project.

BACKGROUND: In 2011, Turkish Ministry of Health (MoH) initiated a nation-wide "Smoking Cessation Treatment Support Program" (SCTSP), to provide smoking cessation drugs free of charge. METHODS: SCTSP was conducted in all 81 cities of Turkey, at 228 smoking cessation clinics, and by over 400 physicians. In total, 164,733 participants took advantage of the program between January and November 2011. Varenicline (Champix(®), Pfizer) and Bupropion (Zyban(®), GlaxoSmithKline) were used in the program at a ratio of 0.7 and 0.3 respectively. Post-program data were obtained by phone interviews from randomly selected participants, who had completed a 1-year follow-up after enrollment in the program. FINDINGS: Quit rates were 29.6% for those given Varenicline and 25.1% for those given Bupropion. The quit rates for participants with hypertension (35.0%), diabetes mellitus (36.9%), coronary artery disease (32.1%) and cerebrovascular events (34.0%) were higher than those without. Increased age, female gender, longer duration of cessation drug use, low Fagerstrom score, the presence of hypertension, the absence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and the absence of cancer were found to be associated with higher success rates. INTERPRETATION: SCTSP is the first successful report of a nation-wide community-based smoking cessation intervention. The real-life quit rates obtained herein are comparable to those of clinical evidence to date. The centralization of smoking cessation clinics, standardization of treatment guidelines, application of a specific drug assignment algorithm, and provision of primary care support and follow-ups by trained physicians, appeared to be key elements for success.

An alarming sign for serious diseases in children: bilateral facial paralysis.

Facial paralysis in children is most often idiopathic, and isolated facial nerve palsy resulting from leukemic infiltration is a rare occurrence. We report a 13-year-old male with acute lymphoblastic leukemia presenting with bilateral facial palsy, who was previously diagnosed with idiopathic facial palsy and treated with steroids. This rare presentation of acute lymphoblastic leukemia should be kept in mind as a diagnostic possibility in a patient with bilateral facial nerve paralysis.

Visceral childhood leishmaniasis in Kagizman, eastern Turkey: a new endemic area.

Visceral leishmaniasis is endemic in some areas of Turkey; however, it has not been reported previously from the eastern part of the country. We reviewed 21 cases of visceral leishmaniasis admitted from eastern Turkey, 60% of whom were from the same region, Kagizman.

A childhood case of primary hepatic actinomycosis presenting with cutaneous fistula.

Primary hepatic actinomycosis is extremely rare in children. Although the infection has the capability of extension to surrounding tissues or organs, involvement of the abdominal wall is infrequently reported even in adults. We present a childhood case of primary hepatic actinomycosis infiltrating the anterior abdominal wall and spontaneously draining through the skin.