Introduction: World Healthcare Cooperatives: Challenges and Opportunities

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, health system management has become a critical issue for almost all nations. The global healthcare industry is one of the largest and fastest-growing service industries in the world. The respective benefits of public and private healthcare systems are continually debated, but a third way – that of healthcare cooperatives – is emerging as an alternative method for managing the well-being of the population. There is a growing demand for bringing together successful cases and models of healthcare cooperatives across the world. This book will therefore focus on the successful healthcare cooperative models from Canada, Argentina, Japan, Africa, Brazil, Columbia, Sri Lanka, and India. The contents of the book will reduce the wide gap existing between the supply and demand in the healthcare sector offering the sustainable development of the society. The book highlights the Health cooperative's capability to deliver positive outcomes through healthcare services that are sustained through the collaborative efforts of their members, with remarkable examples and models established in every corner of the world. Such cooperatives provide hospitals and infrastructure, medical facilities, biotechnology, information technology, and all other healthcare services.