Sierra Leone is a low-income, small West African country of approximately 7.65 million population. Over the past decade, the country has made gains on several health indicators, but it faces huge challenges. Infectious diseases remain the leading causes of morbidity and mortality, but...

This policy note provides an overview of government health financing in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR), with an added focus on health center financing. The note summarizes overall trends in health outcomes and government health financing over 2000-2014 and analyzes trends in planned...

This report identifies critical opportunities and constraints faced by the Kiribati health system as it makes progress towards Universal Health Coverage. Protecting the achievements that have been made over recent years, while continuing to improve a broader range of health outcomes, requires...

This report identifies critical opportunities and constraints faced by the Vanuatu health system as it makes progress toward universal health coverage (UHC). Protecting the achievements that have been made over recent years, while continuing to improve a broader range of health outcomes,...

This Public Expenditure Review (PER) was prepared by the World Bank at the request of the Ministry of Finance of Cabo Verde. With a debt-to-GDP ratio of 126 percent in 2017, Cabo Verde is the most indebted country in Sub-Saharan Africa. The country is also at a high of risk of external debt...

This Public Expenditure Review (PER) is the first for Namibia's health sector. Namibia is an upper-middle income country that has made major progress in improving the standard of living for its population and reducing poverty. Still, with one of the highest Gini coefficients in the world, the...

This Public Expenditure Review (PER) report provides an update on trends and patterns of health expenditures in the public sector. It assesses the availability of fiscal space, the role of user fees and pooled financing arrangements, and provides an overview of the fund flow and financial...

Insurance spending is defined as the ratio of direct gross premiums to GDP, which represents the relative importance of the insurance industry in the domestic economy. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of GDP.