While universal health coverage (UHC) offers a powerful goal for a nation, all countries-irrespective of income are struggling with achieving or sustaining UHC. France is a high-income country where HC is in effect universal. Health-related costs are covered by a mix of mandatory social health...

Samoa currently faces two important public policy challenges in the health sector. One is to stem, and then reverse, the rapid rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The second challenge is to put the country on a health-financing path that is effective, efficient, and financially affordable...

The aim of Health in All Policies (HiAP) is to bring diverse sectors together to find shared solutions; it focuses on identifying 'win-win' or 'cobenefits' such that policy measures contribute not only to improved health outcomes but also to outcomes desired by other sectors, such as education,...

Countries vary widely with respect to the share of government spending on health, a metric that can serve as a proxy for the extent to which health is prioritized by governments. World Health Organization (WHO) data estimate that, in 2011, health's share of aggregate government expenditure in...

Peru reduced its HIV/AIDS burden by 43 percent from 2000 to 2010 due to the introduction of free antiretroviral drug therapy in 2004, and the successful execution of the 2007-2011 HIV/AIDS Strategy and budgeting for results since 2011. The national HIV program received significant external...

Bangladesh is among the most densely populated countries in the world. Poverty remains high at 43 percent of the population subsist on less than United States (U.S.) $1.25 per day (2010). Bangladesh achieved several millennium development goal (MDG) targets in education, health, and poverty...

Maldives, a middle income country, is on track to meet most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), while gender gap requires attention. Maldives has made great progress in improving maternal health and has achieved MDG. The total fertility rate has declined to 2.3 in 2012. Contraceptive use...

India is the third largest economy and has the second largest population in the world. It achieved millennium development goal (MDG) on poverty reduction; however, gender inequality still persists. Maternal mortality rate is 190 deaths per 100,000 live births, representing a 65 percent decline...