The outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in the winter of 2002-03 raised the specter of a new, unknown and uncontrollable infectious disease that spreads quickly and is often fatal. Certain branches of economic activity, notably tourism, felt its impact almost at once, and...

Informal payments in the health sector in Eastern Europe and Central Asia are emerging as a fundamental aspect of health care financing and a serious impediment to health care reform. Informal payments are payments to individuals or institutions in cash or in kind made outside official payment...

"This paper reviews the correlations and potential links between health and economic growth and summarizes the evidence on the role of government in improving health status. At the macroeconomic level, the evidence of an impact of health on growth remains ambiguous due both to difficulties in...

"This paper reviews the correlations and potential links between health and economic growth and summarizes the evidence on the role of government in improving health status. At the macroeconomic level, the evidence of an impact of health on growth remains ambiguous due both to difficulties in...

August 1999 - Low-skilled health promoters posted in rural villages are doing little to improve health or health-seeking behaviors. In a supply-driven system, such workers have too few incentives, too little knowledge, and too little supervision. Results can be improved without increasing costs....