The epidemic spread of HIV/AIDS has been ferocious, posing a great threat, not only to public health, but to social sectors, and to development itself, while the fiscal cost of HIV/AIDS is significant as well. A set of effective prevention interventions include: changing behavior through...

Reproductive health (RH) problems account for a significant part of the burden of disease suffered by poor people in developing countries. Poor women and men are more afflicted with RH problems and often lack access to minimal RH care even when average levels of RH in the country are good. Many...

In this largely Muslim population, only about a third of women have any schooling, most marry young (nearly 80 percent by the age of 19) and by the age of 18, more than half have had their first child. Nearly 1 in every 5 women joins in a polygamous marriage. As both women and men state they...

Health experts and policymakers want people to have access to affordable and high-quality medical care. But in some developing countries, making quality healthcare available may first necessitate ensuring that essential medicines are available, such as anti-malaria pills and antibiotics. The...

Many developing countries face a critical gap between the demand for health care services and their supply. Public resources often fall short of what is needed to provide universal health care, and the typical incentive structure in the public sector may not always be conducive to expanding...

This study aims to build on the findings from the previously mentioned studies, and seeks to provide more detailed information on the costs of the various functions and categories of expenditure involved in the establishment and operation of system for the prevention and control of emerging...

This Functional Review was carried by a Bank team upon request by the Government of Romania. As a starting point, it shows that: (i) health outcomes in Romania lag behind those of the EU; (ii) users are not satisfied with its lack of responsiveness - long lines, informal payments, discourteous...

This synthesis paper describes the HIV epidemics in 15 West African countries - Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. It focuses particularly on the degree to which the epidemics...

Sri Lanka is now a middle income country and already at the advanced stages of aging and disease transitions. This report aims to stimulate policy dialogue for control and prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and to improve the quality of NCD services to the people of Sri Lanka. It...

Although diet structure and activity throughout the developing world have shifted drastically over the past several decades, little is known about effective policies to influence the supply and demand for food to control the undesirable effects, such as obesity, heart disease and cancer, of...