Considerable progress has been made towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) since 1990. Although advances in improving MDG 4 and MDG 5a (reducing child and maternal mortality, respectively) have been made, progress is some countries have been insufficient. While some...

The aim of the report is to review existing approaches and available policy options to improve access to health care services and financial protection against health shocks for informal-sector workers (ISWs). Along with their families, ISWs represent the majority of the population in many...

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,...

This paper estimates country-specific costs and benefits of scaling up key nutrition investments in Nigeria. Building on the methodology established in the global report scaling up nutrition: what will it cost? Authors first estimate the costs and benefits of a nationwide scale up of ten...

The 2008-09 global economic crises have shown that no country is immune to external challenges. When policy controls are missing or not used efficiently, crises can reverse progress even in advanced economies. This unexpected outcome has increased concerns about the ability of governments in...

This note analyzes levels and trends of health expenditures by country, income group, and region in the context of overall government revenue, expenditure, and GDP trends between 1995 and 2010. The study uses available data from the World Health Organization's (WHO) National Health Accounts, the...

This paper builds on the global experience and Mali?s context to identify an effective nutrition approach as well as costs and benefits of key nutrition programs, as part of a resilience agenda after the crisis. It is intended to help guide the selection of the most cost-effective interventions...

This paper was developed for World Bank task team leaders (TTLs) and teams designing results-based financing (RBF) programs in family planning (FP). It explores the rationale for introducing such incentives based on insights from classical and behavioral economics, to respond to supply- and...

Pakistan remains one of the region's poorest performers against MDG targets. Progress toward education, gender, and health MDGs are off track. Despite slow progress, maternal health indicators have improved: maternal mortality has declined by over half in 20 years. A half of deliveries has been...

The South Asia Region (SAR) includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. With over 1.6 billion people, it is the most densely populated region in the world. The populations vary from 400,000 in the Maldives to 1.2 billion in India. The economies...