Joseph Harris Authors Washington Post Article on Universal Healthcare in Developing Countries

Joseph Harris, an assistant professor of Sociology and a Faculty Research Fellow at the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, recently authored an article in The Washington Post exploring how and why resource-constrained countries make costly commitments to universal health care and AIDS treatment.

The piece draws on the major findings presented in his recent 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.

Click here to read the article.