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There has been a significant increase in funding for health programmes in development over the last two decades, partly due to the formation of public–private partnerships. This article examines the impact of public–private partnerships from the perspective of women’s health, asks whether the current culture of funding has led to an increased instrumentalism in women’s health programming and what effects this has on how women’s health is addressed at the level of practice. The article is based on research carried out with UK-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and its conclusions raise further challenges for improving women’s health policies and programmes in development.

This article looks at the role of NGOs in social service delivery in Latin America and questions some of the assumptions which are often made about their abilities. Following the implementation of the neo-liberal model, increased conditionality has been placed on economic assistance. This has created a new role for NGOs, whereby they are harnessed by states in order to secure effective implementation of reform packages. In the process many NGOs find their own agendas become distorted. The paper discusses the political implications of this new role for NGOs and goes on to conclude that, given the nature of the democratisation process in Latin America, and the accompanying economic model, expectations regarding NGO potential for grassroots empowerment have been over-optimistic.

This article introduces a special section focusing on the social policy reforms of recent years in Latin America. The essay identifies and discusses the principal trends and challenges in social policy in the region since the 1980s, before providing a summary of the special section and linking up the themes of the four contributions that follow. These highlight the variety of approaches adopted, as well as the differing assessments of recent developments. The authors note that while the reform process itself is unfolding, it is striking that social policy has become a highly visible and contested issue in the region.

Purpose -The objective of this paper is to examine the health seeking strategies of Latin American migrants in London.Design/methodology/approach -The paper draws on a small case study analysis conducted with Latin American migrants in London and relevant stakeholders. Findings -The paper highlights that even where Latin American migrants do have entitlements to use the NHS, a series of informal barriers limits their access. As a consequence many employ a range of transnational health-seeking strategies in order to seek resolution to their health problems. These findings repeat those identified in other studies and point to the need to gain a better understanding of migrant's exclusion and marginalisation in relation to formal health care providers. At the same time, the findings point to the lack of long-term resolution many migrants experience in relation to their health care needs, raising important questions about health inequalities.Research limitations/implications -Latin Americans represent a hugely diverse and heterogeneous group of migrants who have differing values and belief systems in relation to health care. A more detailed study is necessary in order to fully understand their health seeking behaviour in a UK context.Originality/value -Latin Americans represent a ''new migrant'' population in the UK and are considerably under-researched compared to more established migrant communities. At the same time they are an unrecognised group and are therefore excluded from many policy debates. This paper seeks to address this lack of knowledge.