Offline: The Turkish paradox

摘要

Recall the headlines: "Demonstrations spread throughout Turkey" (/HI, June 3); "Turkey expands violent reaction to street unrest: hits medics and media" (The New York Times, June 17); "Turkish liberals turn their backs on Erdogan" (The New York Times, June 20). This was the inauspicious backdrop to a Ministerial Conference on Universal Health Coverage, held last week in Istanbul jointly between Turkey's Ministry of Health, Imperial College London, Medipol University, and The Lancet. Was it better to engage or disengage? I think we-together with Rifat Atun, who led the evaluation of Turkey's health reforms; Julio Frenk; Ala Alwan and Zsuzsanna Jakab, Regional Directors of WHO; Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Managing Director at the World Bank; and ministers and officials from over 30 countries-were glad we went. Because what Turkey has achieved with its Health Transformation Programme is nothing short of extraordinary. But no-one could ignore recent events.