The Ministry of Health (MS) is in charge of access and availability of health care. Its main responsibilities are: policy formulation, evaluation, coordination, and establishment of standards and values. The private sector is involved at the service provider level and its activities are mainly in the curative field, while Regional Health Services and the Medical Mission, subsidized by the government, provide curative and preventive health care services. Suriname has an explicit program for health sector reform. The objective is to formulate and initiate policy reforms to improve efficiency, equity, quality, and financial health care sustainability in Suriname.
The profile was prepared by a group of fifteen professionals and national policy decision makers from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation, Ministry of Regional Development, General Bureau of Statistics, Inter-American Development Bank Health Sector Reform Project, and the PAHO/WHO Representation in Suriname. Technical coordination of the national group was the responsibility of Director of Health, Ministry of Health of Suriname and the PAHO/WHO Representation in Suriname. Final review, edition, and translation are the responsibility of the Health Systems and Policies Unit, PAHO/WHO, Washington, DC.
HEALTH SYSTEM PROFILES 
The Ministry of Health (MS) is in charge of access and availability of health care. Its main responsibilities are: policy formulation, evaluation, coordination, and establishment of standards and values. The private sector is involved at the service provider level and its activities are mainly in the curative field, while Regional Health Services and the Medical Mission, subsidized by the government, provide curative and preventive health care services. Suriname has an explicit program for health sector reform. The objective is to formulate and initiate policy reforms to improve efficiency, equity, quality, and financial health care sustainability in Suriname.