title: A strategy toward reconstructing the healthcare system of a unified Korea.
abstract: This road map aims to establish a stable and integrated healthcare system for the Korean Peninsula by improving health conditions and building a foundation for healthcare in North Korea through a series of effective healthcare programs. With a basic time frame extending from the present in stages towards unification, the roadmap is composed of four successive phases. The first and second phases, each expected to last five years, respectively, focus on disease treatment and nutritional treatment. These phases would thereby safeguard the health of the most vulnerable populations in North Korea, while fulfilling the basic health needs of other groups by modernizing existing medical facilities. Based on the gains of the first two phases, the third phase, for ten years, would prepare for unification of the Koreas by promoting the health of all the North Korean people and improving basic infrastructural elements such as health workforce capacity and medical institutions. The fourth phase, assuming that unification will take place, provides fundamental principles and directions for establishing an integrated healthcare system across the Korean Peninsula. We are hoping to increase the consistency of the program and overcome several existing concerns of the current program with this roadmap.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Public Health, Korea University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Yo Han
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Seok-Jun
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Seok Hyang
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyun-Woung
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Jin Yong
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Beomsoo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Young Ae
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jangho
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Young Seok
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Shin
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D019981:Health Care Sector; D006280:Health Workforce; D006801:Humans; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D056910:Republic of Korea
keywords: Delivery of health care; Democratic People's Republic of Korea; Health planning