Gender equality is a key foundation of inclusive and sustainable economic development that can translate into long-term and effective poverty reduction. While gender equality matters on its own as a human right, it also offers instrumental value for individuals, households, and societies at...

Maternal health remains one of the top priorities of the Government of Indonesia (GoI) and the Ministry of Health (MoH) because reductions in maternal mortality have been slows. The current Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) for Indonesia is 228 but with existing programs and interventions the...

Over 529,000 women die annually from complications during pregnancy, childbirth, or the postpartum period. Nearly all of these deaths occur in developing countries, where fertility rates are higher and a woman's life time risk of dying during pregnancy and childbirth is over 400 times higher...

Although Lao PDR has made notable progress in improving maternal and child health (MCH), attainment of the Millennium Development Goal 5 (MDG5) still remains a challenge. This is largely due to the barriers imposed by financial restrictions. In order to address these financial barriers, the...

Despite being on-track on the child- and maternal-health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Lao PDR continues to have some of the worst maternal and child health (MCH) and nutrition outcome indicators, both globally as well as in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region. This report presents...

This toolkit is the first of its kind to provide information on promoting and protecting the nutritional status of mothers and children in crises and emergencies. Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to major crises and emergencies. This toolkit aims...

Maternal and infant mortality remains very high in Mali, despite the technical, organizational and financial efforts made by the Ministry of Health and donors during the last ten years. The data available from the three EDS are eloquent in this respect: infant mortality, which was 108 (EDS I,...

The Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) has supported the Global Scaling up Handwashing Project in Peru, Senegal, Tanzania, and Vietnam. The project has tested whether innovative promotional approaches to behavior change can generate widespread and sustained improvements in household hygiene...

The health care system in Brazil has established the important principle of universal coverage, yet, it faces several key challenges: its expenditure patterns favor the regions that are already better off, and healthier, and, needs to take into account diverse practices, and cultures, in...