To understand the fiscal position of a country, contingent liabilities and other sources of fiscal risk need to be considered. The authors develop a framework to assess and manage fiscal risk in Bulgaria. Bulgaria's Currency Board Arrangement has effectively imposed fiscal discipline, but leaves...

Achieving the objective of China's current health system reform, namely equitable improvements in health outcomes, will be difficult not least because of the continuously growing income disparities in the country. The analysis in this paper shows that since 2000, disparity in selected health...

April 2012 marked the end of the three years China set for implementation of the first phase of its health system reform (HSR), and several recent reports assessed progress in this massive undertaking. Two of them identify impressive achievements in health insurance coverage, infrastructure...

The study addresses governance challenges in public service delivery in China. It builds on the citizen scorecard survey conducted in five Chinese cities in 2006 to gauge citizens’ experience with public services, and demonstrates the usefulness of citizens’ feedback for policy development...

Context The Aceh province of Indonesia suffered unimaginable damage as a result of the earthquake and tsunami on December 26, 2004. According to the Indonesian government, more than 125000 people were killed, over 111000 persons are still missing,and over 400000 persons are currently displaced...

China embarked on an ambitious health system reform in 2009, and pledged to achieve universal health insurance coverage by 2020. However, there are gaps in access to healthcare for some children in China. We assessed health insurance status and associated variables among children under five in...

In modern decentralised health systems, district and local managers are increasingly responsible for financing, managing, and delivering healthcare. However, their lack of adequate skills and competencies are a critical barrier to improved performance of health systems. Given the financial and...

This report examines the role of incentives, trust, and engagement as critical determinants of service delivery performance in MENA countries. Focusing on education and health, the report illustrates how the weak external and internal accountability undermines policy implementation and service...

Reflecting on lessons from international experience and on China's policy context, this paper aims to outline the analytical and institutional framework that would help make essential public services of adequate quality universally accesible and enjoyed by all citizens affected by the earthquake...