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A Strategy Toward Reconstructing the Healthcare System of a Unified Korea

  • Lee, Yo Han (Graduate School of Public Health, Korea University) ;
  • Yoon, Seok-Jun (Department of Preventive Medicine, Korea University College of Medicine) ;
  • Kim, Seok Hyang (Department of North Korean Studies, Ewha Womans University) ;
  • Shin, Hyun-Woung (Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs) ;
  • Lee, Jin Yong (Department of Preventive Medicine, Konyang University College of Medicine) ;
  • Kim, Beomsoo (Department of Economics, Korea University) ;
  • Kim, Young Ae (Graduate School of Public Health, Korea University) ;
  • Yoon, Jangho (School of Social and Behavioral Health Sciences, Oregon State University) ;
  • Shin, Young Seok (Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs)
  • Received : 2013.02.25
  • Accepted : 2013.05.06
  • Published : 2013.05.31

Abstract

This road map aims to establish a stable and integrated healthcare system for the Korean Peninsula by improving health conditions and building a foundation for healthcare in North Korea through a series of effective healthcare programs. With a basic time frame extending from the present in stages towards unification, the roadmap is composed of four successive phases. The first and second phases, each expected to last five years, respectively, focus on disease treatment and nutritional treatment. These phases would thereby safeguard the health of the most vulnerable populations in North Korea, while fulfilling the basic health needs of other groups by modernizing existing medical facilities. Based on the gains of the first two phases, the third phase, for ten years, would prepare for unification of the Koreas by promoting the health of all the North Korean people and improving basic infrastructural elements such as health workforce capacity and medical institutions. The fourth phase, assuming that unification will take place, provides fundamental principles and directions for establishing an integrated healthcare system across the Korean Peninsula. We are hoping to increase the consistency of the program and overcome several existing concerns of the current program with this roadmap.

Keywords

References

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