{"id":26676,"date":"2026-01-30T14:57:36","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T14:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/the-bmj-article\/colombia-another-health-system-at-a-fork-in-the-road\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T19:34:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T19:34:56","slug":"colombia-another-health-system-at-a-fork-in-the-road","status":"publish","type":"the-bmj-article","link":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/the-bmj-article\/colombia-another-health-system-at-a-fork-in-the-road\/","title":{"rendered":"Colombia: another health system at a fork in the road"},"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[],"content_type":[25],"editorial_panel":[],"channel_page":[41],"class_list":["post-26676","the-bmj-article","type-the-bmj-article","status-publish","hentry","article-type-editors-choice","channel-page-comment"],"aioseo_notices":[],"meta_box":{"the_bmj_article-url":"\/content\/392\/bmj.s202","the_bmj_article-description":"The argument about Colombia\u2019s health system is yet to be settled. But the dilemma remains of understanding the relation between politically motivated changes and their effects on health outcomes, writes Kamran Abbasi in Editor's Choice","the_bmj_article-the_bmj_article_image":[{"width":150,"height":150,"file":"2026\/01\/Pharmacy_queue_colombia_GettyImages-2206323163.jpg","filesize":70342,"sizes":{"medium":{"file":"Pharmacy_queue_colombia_GettyImages-2206323163-300x194.jpg","width":300,"height":194,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":29137,"url":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/01\/Pharmacy_queue_colombia_GettyImages-2206323163-300x194.jpg"},"thumbnail":{"file":"Pharmacy_queue_colombia_GettyImages-2206323163-150x150.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":20696,"url":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/01\/Pharmacy_queue_colombia_GettyImages-2206323163-150x150.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"AFP via Getty Images","camera":"NIKON Z 6_2","caption":"People queue outside a pharmacy to claim medications in Cali, Colombia on March 25, 2025. Before Colombian President Gustavo Petro's administration, medical associations warned on the shortage of medicines in the country. Experts say this was due to COVID-19, an increase in demand, an ageing population, and a lack of supplies worldwide. This, coupled with a local system choked by lack of funds. (Photo by JOAQUIN SARMIENTO \/ AFP) (Photo by JOAQUIN SARMIENTO\/AFP via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1742860800","copyright":"AFP or licensors","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"COLOMBIA-HEALTH-MEDICATIONS","orientation":"1","keywords":["Horizontal"]},"ID":"26677","name":"Pharmacy_queue_colombia_GettyImages-2206323163.jpg","path":"\/dom34810\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/01\/Pharmacy_queue_colombia_GettyImages-2206323163.jpg","url":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/01\/Pharmacy_queue_colombia_GettyImages-2206323163-150x150.jpg","full_url":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/01\/Pharmacy_queue_colombia_GettyImages-2206323163.jpg","title":"COLOMBIA-HEALTH-MEDICATIONS","caption":"People queue outside a pharmacy to claim medications in Cali, Colombia on March 25, 2025. Before Colombian President Gustavo Petro's administration, medical associations warned on the shortage of medicines in the country. Experts say this was due to COVID-19, an increase in demand, an ageing population, and a lack of supplies worldwide. This, coupled with a local system choked by lack of funds. (Photo by JOAQUIN SARMIENTO \/ AFP) (Photo by JOAQUIN SARMIENTO\/AFP via Getty Images)","description":"","alt":"People queue for the pharmacy in Colombia","srcset":false}],"the_bmj_article-related_articles":[{"article_type":"Feature","related_article_title":"How politics destroyed Colombia\u2019s model healthcare system","related_article_url":"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/392\/bmj.s76"}],"the_bmj_article-journal_name":""},"head_tags":[{"tag":"title","content":"Colombia: another health system at a fork in the road | The BMJ"},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"name":"robots","content":"max-image-preview:large"}},{"tag":"link","attributes":{"rel":"canonical","href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/the-bmj-article\/colombia-another-health-system-at-a-fork-in-the-road\/"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"name":"generator","content":"All in One SEO (AIOSEO) 4.9.6.2"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:locale","content":"en_GB"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:site_name","content":"The BMJ | The BMJ: leading general medical journal. Research. Education. Comment"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:type","content":"article"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:title","content":"Colombia: another health system at a fork in the road | The BMJ"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:url","content":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/the-bmj-article\/colombia-another-health-system-at-a-fork-in-the-road\/"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"article:published_time","content":"2026-01-30T14:57:36+00:00"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"article:modified_time","content":"2026-02-02T19:34:56+00:00"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"name":"twitter:card","content":"summary"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"name":"twitter:title","content":"Colombia: another health system at a fork in the road | The BMJ"}},{"tag":"link","attributes":{"rel":"alternate","type":"application\/rss+xml","title":"The BMJ \u00bb Feed","href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/feed\/"}},{"tag":"link","attributes":{"rel":"alternate","type":"application\/rss+xml","title":"The BMJ \u00bb Comments Feed","href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/comments\/feed\/"}},{"tag":"link","attributes":{"rel":"alternate","title":"oEmbed (JSON)","type":"application\/json+oembed","href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/oembed\/1.0\/embed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbmj-chicken.bmj.com%2Fthebmj%2Fthe-bmj-article%2Fcolombia-another-health-system-at-a-fork-in-the-road%2F"}},{"tag":"link","attributes":{"rel":"alternate","title":"oEmbed (XML)","type":"text\/xml+oembed","href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/oembed\/1.0\/embed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbmj-chicken.bmj.com%2Fthebmj%2Fthe-bmj-article%2Fcolombia-another-health-system-at-a-fork-in-the-road%2F&format=xml"}},{"tag":"link","attributes":{"rel":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/","href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/"}},{"tag":"link","attributes":{"rel":"alternate","title":"JSON","type":"application\/json","href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/the-bmj-article\/26676"}},{"tag":"link","attributes":{"rel":"EditURI","type":"application\/rsd+xml","title":"RSD","href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/xmlrpc.php?rsd"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"name":"generator","content":"WordPress 6.9.4"}},{"tag":"link","attributes":{"rel":"shortlink","href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/?p=26676"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:locale","content":"en_GB"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:site_name","content":"The BMJ"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:title","content":"Colombia: another health system at a fork in the road"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:url","content":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/the-bmj-article\/colombia-another-health-system-at-a-fork-in-the-road\/"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:type","content":"article"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:description","content":"The BMJ: leading general medical journal. Research. Education. Comment"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"name":"twitter:title","content":"Colombia: another health system at a fork in the road"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"name":"twitter:url","content":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/the-bmj-article\/colombia-another-health-system-at-a-fork-in-the-road\/"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"name":"twitter:description","content":"The BMJ: leading general medical journal. Research. Education. Comment"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"name":"twitter:card","content":"summary_large_image"}}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/the-bmj-article\/26676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/the-bmj-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/the-bmj-article"}],"type":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/the-bmj-article"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26676"},{"taxonomy":"article-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=26676"},{"taxonomy":"editorial-panel","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/editorial_panel?post=26676"},{"taxonomy":"channel-page","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/channel_page?post=26676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}