North Macedonia, an Eastern European nation of 1.836 million inhabitants, has a growing burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). An aging population and high levels of NCD risk factors are mainly responsible, with tobacco, raised blood pressure, and unhealthy diets driving mortality and...

Egypt is a lower-middle-income country with a GNI per capita (PPP) of US$ 5,654 in 2012. Since the Arab Spring, Egypt s economic growth has slowed to 0.6 percent in 2012. Half of Egypt s 82.54 million people live in rural areas. Poverty is concentrated in Upper Egypt (the southern region). As of...

Considerable progress has been made towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) since 1990. Although advances in improving MDG 4 and MDG 5a (reducing child and maternal mortality, respectively) have been made, progress is some countries have been insufficient. While some...

This book is about 24 developing countries that have embarked on the journey towards universal health coverage (UHC) following a bottom-up approach, with a special focus on the poor and vulnerable, through a systematic data collection that provides practical insights to policymakers and...

One of the key constraints to improving health outcomes in the developing world relates to equitable and efficient health financing. In most developing countries, a large portion of health expenditure is private and out-of-pocket (Gottret and Schieber 2006). This book represents a synthesis of...

Health care expenditures can be financed through a mix of public resources and private spending. Private spending is a much larger share of total health spending in low- and middle-income countries than in higher income countries. Moreover, a significant percentage of private spending in those...