Health systems in developing countries: public sector managers and the management of contradictions and change

Health sector reform in the past decade has tended to focus on remodelling institutional relations and changing methods of health system financing. Little attention has been paid to human resources. This paper focuses on one category of health sector staff, health managers and planners, and the tensions they face in carrying out their roles. An understanding of these tensions has been neglected in the policy-making process. The paper is divided into two parts. Firstly, it will set out the nature of three tensions that public sector health managers and planners face: changes in the health care system; the contradictions between public interest and private gain; and changes in the forms of accountability. Secondly, it will suggest ways forward in relation to these problems, paying particular attention to the role of international agencies.