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...

Few would contest that teachers are a very important determinant of whether students learn in school. Yet, in the face of compelling evidence that many students are not learning what they are expected to learn, how to improve teacher performance has been the focus of much policy debate in rich...

The adequacy of compensation for government workers and the affordability of the public sector wage bill are important concerns for many developing countries. Suitable pay is considered a necessary -- albeit far from sufficient -- condition for attracting and retaining skilled public sector...

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...

Despite the popularity and widespread implementation of school feeding programmes, evidence of their impact on school participation and nutritional status is mixed. In this study we evaluate feeding programmes in three districts of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Feeding modalities...

Absenteeism among public health workers is common in developing countries. Absence rates among public health workers are above 25 per cent in the five developing countries that Chaudhury et al. (N. Chaudhury, J. Hammer, M. Kremer, K. Muralidharan, and F.H. Rogers (2006) Missing in action:...

This study investigates the economic impacts of accession to the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) by the new member countries of Cambodia, the Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam. The trade policies of these countries are examined, and a series of quantitative analyses were undertaken to evaluate the...

This study provides an overview of the issues and challenges related to the private financing of hydropower projects in developing countries. From the very limited pool of projects that have already reached or are nearing financial closure, ten have been chosen for the study from five countries...

Worldwide, Lao PDR has been identified among 57 countries with a critical shortage and skewed distribution of its health workforce, especially in remote and rural areas (Guilbert 2006, World Bank 2015). Healthcare education is provided by the public sector through nine public health training...