Summary The Vilnius Eastern Partnership Summit on 28-29th November represents a milestone in EU relations not just with respect to the six Eastern Partnership countries (EaP Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and particularly Ukraine), but also with the EU’s ‘strategic partner’...

Afghanistan has made strong gains in health outcomes, health service coverage andhealth systems performance since 2003, with a particular impact on women and children's health. All told, Afghanistan has made notable progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets for...

The economies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) grew several folds over the past decades, making impressive improvements in key development indicators, supported by massive investments in extractive industries. Real gross domestic product (GDP) annual growth reached 5.1 percent during the...

Indonesia has one of the highest rates of cigarette consumption in the world. Tobacco use heavily burdens population health, undermines the quest for universal health coverage, and inflicts heavy direct and indirect economic costs. Higher tobacco taxes to increase cigarette prices contribute to...

The Philippines Department of Social Welfare and Development has taken the lead in providingopportunities for income generating activities/livelihood development through the implementationof the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) since 2011, with the objective to reduce poverty andinequality...

Examining performance patterns of sub-national units, such as provinces and districts, within a health system is important to understand their drivers and what might be needed to improve outputs. Such literature is relatively rare in low and middle-income countries. It is particularly relevant...

Since the formulation of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) of 2010-2016, social protection (SP) has figured more prominently in the country's development agenda and in policy dialogs. The PDP for 2017-2022 continues the same emphasis on SP (National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA),...