The COVID-19 crisis brought home the high costs of pandemics, triggering a historic setback in the fight against poverty. It also reinforced the interconnections between people, planet and economy, calling attention to the zoonotic nature of pathogens spilling over from animals to people. To...

Central Asia has made much progress in public health and animal health in the last 20 years but was as unprepared as other regions in the world to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The region also faces challenges from other emerging diseases, re-emerging diseases, and climate change. Since...

This report summarizes the findings of an allocative efficiency analysis to support Cote d'Ivoire's national HIV response. The study was conducted at the request of the Government of Cote d'Ivoire by the World Bank, the University of Bern, the Burnet Institute and the University of New South...

The Indonesian health sector is currently experiencing a financing transition that will have a profound impact on the country's efforts to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) and national health goals. The transition is marked, on the one hand, by increasing per capita expenditure on health...

This paper has outlined an ambitious agenda for the WBG to support PPR enhancement at country, regional, and global levels as part of a broader approach to strengthen health systems. It is an agenda that not only seeks to deliver on the Bank's IDA commitments related to disease outbreaks and...

Investing in One Health - cross-sectoral, multidisciplinary coordination and collaboration across the human health, animal health, and environmental health sectors - is crucial for maintaining healthy agricultural and food systems and addressing global health security risks. Such action can...

The world has waited long enough for high-performing primary health care (PHC). It's time to deliver. Forty years ago, leaders embraced the promise of health for all through PHC. That vision has inspired generations. But for nearly half a century, countries have struggled to walk the talk on...

Lao PDR has made notable progress in improving maternal health, with materanal mortality decreasing from 1,600 per 100,000 births in 1990 to 220 in 2013.1 However, in order for further gains to be realized, at least two barriers need to be addressed - the low utilization of maternal health (MH)...

As Lao PDR prepares to graduate from Least Developed Country (LDC) status by 2020 to become an upper-middle-income country by 2030, it also expects to face declining funding from external sources and the need to increase domestic financing for health. This report aims to provide a snapshot of...