This paper examines the impacts of the 2008-2009 economic crisis on social spending, drawing on evidence at the global, national, and household levels, to provide a sense of the nature and the effects of the worldwide downturn on spending in the social sectors. It summarizes existing empirical...

Informal, under-the-table, payments to public health providers is an increasingly important source of health financing in developing and transition countries. With basic funding levels and minimal accountability publicly financed and delivered care falls prey to illegal payments, which can...

After decades of neglect the HIV/AIDS epidemic has rightly become one of the highest priorities on the global agenda. Funding pledges from the donors have doubled resource commitments between 2002 and 2004 to over $6 billion. That surge in funding belies the volatile nature of contributions to...

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...

After decades of neglect the HIV/AIDS epidemic has rightly become one of the highest priorities on the global agenda. Funding pledges from the donors have doubled resource commitments between 2002 and 2004 to over $6 billion. That surge in funding belies the volatile nature of contributions to...

What factors affect health care delivery in the developing world? Anecdotal evidence of lives cut tragically short and the loss of productivity due to avoidable diseases is an area of salient concern in global health and international development. This working paper looks at factual evidence to...

The twenty-first century’s second decade has been marked by increasingly high-profile cybersecurity vulnerabilities, data breaches, and controversies over policies and practices that affect the privacy of Internet users’ data. At a time when the Internet and online services are being used to...

The impacts of health care investments in developing and transition countries are typically measured by inputs and general health outcomes. Missing from the health agenda are measures of performance that reflect whether health systems are meeting their objectives; public resources are being used...

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...