The health sector in post-socialist Eastern Europe suffers from a great many serious problems and concerns. The need for radical reforms is generally agreed, but opinions differ on what actually needs to be done, and how and when. Sharp debates take place, sometimes behind closed doors and sometimes in public, within the countries concerned and within the international agencies and academic institutions that are giving advice regarding economic and social transformation.

The authors of this book take positions on the issues being debated. We explain what direction we think the reforms should take and argue our point of view. We do not make detailed recommendations. The emphasis in our remarks is on the desirable features of reform that are common to all the countries examined.

While the book does not avoid taking up a position, it seeks to point to the difficulties that loom in the path of implementing reform. It sets out to identify the trade-offs. It points out what a country will win and lose, and what risks and dangers it will face in taking the approach recommended.

The purpose behind the book is to make recommendations that will facilitate reform. The economic-policy recommendations appear in part II. The preceding part I discusses the points of departure upon which the recommendations are based.

The subject-matter is vast. It is worth establishing first of all what criteria the authors used to narrow the scope of inquiry.