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Economic Perspectives on Health
in the Industrialized Nations

The speakers will discuss a variety of problems facing health care systems in the developed nations. Recent attention paid to the high infant mortality rates in some parts of the United States will serve as a basis for discussion of the state of maternal and child health in wealthy countries. The symposium moves in the second and third talks to an examination of the chronic care needs of young and elderly people, both of which will require much increased attention with the spread of HIV infection and the graying of industrialized societies into the next century.

• George Kerr, M.D., Professor of Nutrition at the University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, TX 77030. "Care for Mothers and Their Infant Children." Discussion of the major causes of infant morbidity and mortality in the United States, how the child health care process has grown over the years, and the role of government and private programs in identifying and addressing the causes of infant morbidity and mortality.

• Paula Knudson, M.P.H., Executive Coordinator, Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects at the University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, TX 77030. "Establishing an AIDS Hospice: The Story of Houston's Omega House." Problems of funding long term care as experienced by the speaker in her efforts to initiate hospice care opportunities for terminally ill people with AIDS. The focus will be on one community-based service organization's response to the AIDS crisis in Houston.

• Discussants from the Texas Department of Human Services, Office of the Regional Liaison for the Aged and Disabled. "Providing and Paying for Chronic Care in an Aging Society." Exploration of the difficulties with financing and implementation of community-based services for the elderly, the provision of a continuum of care to maximize personal independence, and the contrasted challenges of institutional vs. non-institutional care.

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