Reforming the health sector: towards a healthy new public management

New public management (NPM) ideas have been reflected in the international health sector reform agenda. This paper summarizes the extent and depth of reform in the five countries studied, as reflected in four key policy arrangements, and reviews the various dimensions of capacity which have hindered policy development and implementation. The paper concludes that NPM reforms place demands on government which are not only technically complex but require political leadership, major institutional reform and shifts in organizational culture: it was thus not surprising that none of the case-study countries had undertaken far-reaching NPM reforms in the health sector. Key lessons for capacity strengthening are drawn from the country experiences. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.