The Emergence of the Socialist Healthcare Model After the First World War

Abstract

AbstractOne of the most influential models in healthcare organisation and finance is the so-called Semashko model. This chapter scrutinises its origins in the Soviet Union and its expansion to Central and Eastern Europe. Its creation and later its spatial expansion were both by-products of war. While the Russian Revolution of October 1917 (brought about by the First World War) was the starting point for the development and introduction of the Semashko model, its spatial expansion was precipitated by the end of the Second World War when the Soviet healthcare model was (forcibly) exported to large parts of Central and Eastern Europe. Even though the initial success of the healthcare model ended in crisis, its legacies still influence healthcare policies in this region today.