Harris Co-Authors New Paper on the Role of Private Sector on Universal Healthcare in Brazil and Thailand

Joseph Harris, an associate professor of Sociology and a Faculty Associate at the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, co-authored a new paper exploring the role of the private sector on countries’ universal healthcare programs, focusing specifically on the experiences in Brazil and Thailand. The paper was published in the journal Global Public Health.

The article builds on his book, Achieving Access: Professional Movements and the Politics of Health Universalism (Cornell University Press 2017). In the book, Prof. Harris explores the dynamics that made universal health policies possible in resource-constrained countries like Thailand and Brazil at a time when wealthy nations struggle to make healthcare available to all. The book focuses on the often-overlooked role of “professional movements,” in which democratization empowers elites — not just the masses — to forge progressive change.