Turkey's government increased tobacco tax revenue and lowered tobacco consumption by increasing tobacco tax rates significantly between 2003 and 2013. However, both per capita tobacco consumption and total cigarette sales in Turkey have begun to increase again in recent years. Although the...

Across Russia, the deep socio-economic crisis of the 1990s and early 2000s provided fertile ground for the spread of Tuberculosis (TB). Indeed, as noted, 'people who were already living very precariously saw their real incomes drop by 25 percent to 30 percent at a time when government spending...

As in many countries of the Europe and Central Asia Region (ECA), vehicle ownership in Russia has grown faster in the last decade than the decline in the rate of fatalities per vehicle. At the same time, road safety policies and interventions have not kept pace with the boom in motorization. In...

Road traffic injuries (RTIs) have become a major public health challenge in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). About 90 percent of the 1.3 million deaths and 50 million injuries from road traffic crashes worldwide each year occur in LMICs, although these countries have only 48...

The Dominican Republic has 120,000 persons living with AIDS (PLWAs), 9 times the total number of reported cases. About 20,000 people have died from AIDS in the last decade. HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age. Prevalence is highest (5 percent of adults) among...

The purpose of this discussion paper is to discuss selected health challenges in the Russian Federation, focusing on outcomes, expenditures and options for policy and institutional reforms in the health care system. The areas covered in the paper draw on recent studies and reports, and take into...

This report discusses the importance of pharmacovigilance (PV) in contributing to building up resilient health systems. It is based on and summarizes the findings of a review of available literature on the topic and relevant case studies focusing on a set of country and regional experiences....

Building capacity in countries to conduct thorough surveillance of the use of all newly authorized drugs and vaccines, both brand name and generic, is a critical "public good” investment to ensure that drugs work correctly and that their health benefits outweigh their known risks. Korea's...

The Spanish System of Pharmacovigilance (SSPV) started its activities almost 40 years ago, in 1985. Of particular interest to others considering various options for developing pharmacovigilance systems is the fact that this case study highlights an example that built from the ground up and...

Although indispensable for improving health outcomes, medicines and vaccines or their administration and use can produce adverse effects, requiring continuous vigilance to ensure that the benefits outweigh the risks. Monitoring the safety of the use of marketed medicines and vaccines, also known...