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)...

Taking the Philippines Health Financing Strategy (HFS) 2010-2020 objective of 'sustaining membership in PhilHealth for all Filipinos' as its point of departure, this report assesses the expansion of health insurance coverage in the Philippines and the extent to which it provides protection from...

At present rates, the global 2030 Universal Health Coverage (UHC) targets under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals will not be met. Urgent action is needed to speed progress in the two dimensions of UHC, health service coverage and financial protection, and to ensure that no one is...

This document offers a useful background for NGOs or organizations working to deliver culturally appropriate maternal health services or interventions through comadronas (midwives) in Solola, Guatemala or the surrounding region. To this end, the information contained herein focuses on...

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...

A strong health financing system will be an important priority as Bangladesh seeks to meet theexpectations of its population and embrace its future as a middle-income country. The objective of this report is to present policymakers with a foundation for an informed discussionabout government...

Health financing in Indonesia is marked by low public health expenditures (PHE), high out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures and a complex and fragmented intergovernmental fiscal transfer system. Indonesia has a mixed model of public-private provision of health care services. Despite this large...

The Philippines has made remarkable progress in the last decades in improving its health outcomes. However, performance is still poor compared regionally and with similar economies. This report was developed with the aim of informing health policy during the political transition from the...

This paper is part of additional efforts supported by the World Bank Global Tobacco Control Program to inform the Government of Vietnam on options for tobacco taxation by providing estimates of the impact of cigarette price increase across five income groups for the period 2020-2022 under two...