[Inequities in health policies: the Latin American case]

Four points relating to the iniquities of the health services are brought out. In the first, the economic crisis the region has been going through during recent decades, is discussed and the contention that the tendency to an overall improvement of the living conditions has not been deeply affected by this crisis is questioned. In the second the characteristics of the Latin-American process of development, marked by the deepening of the iniquities is examined. In the third an analysis of the pattern of social protection in the region is presented and in the last two polar models for the reformation of this pattern are discussed.