Accelerating MDGs achievement in Asia and the Pacific: the role of public expenditure

Although as a region the Asia-Pacific has done well and is an early achiever in most of the MDGs, many countries have not done as well in health related indicators. In fact, some of the countries have regressed, for example in the reduction of HIV and malaria prevalence rate. In the case of maternal and infant mortality, many countries in the region are off-track or slow and will not achieve the targets by 2015.