North Macedonia, an Eastern European nation of 1.836 million inhabitants, has a growing burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). An aging population and high levels of NCD risk factors are mainly responsible, with tobacco, raised blood pressure, and unhealthy diets driving mortality and...

India's health sector continues to be challenged by overall low levels of public financing, entrenched accountability issues in the public delivery system, and the persistent dominance of out-of-pocket spending. In this context, this case study describes three recent initiatives introduced by...

Timor-Leste is facing a human capital crisis. Children born in Timor-Leste today will be less than half as productive as adults as they could be if they enjoyed complete education and full health. Moreover, the Petroleum Fund, the main driver of the economy since the country's independence in...

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the significance of national and local actors in responding to health emergencies, prompting a reevaluation of public health paradigms. Prior to the pandemic, effective healthcare systems relied on coordinated and robust institutions to optimize resource...

This case study aims to identify how Ethiopia has adopted and implemented strategies to improve health services, including the factors that enabled and inhibited success across a meaningful range of health services for the period 1996-2006. Particular emphasis has been given to the impact of...

There are challenges that hinder progress toward the Millennium Development Goals(MDGs), targets in Egypt. These challenges include the pervasive differentials and gaps in the delivery, availability, and quality of publicly financed services and programs, the gender gaps; the fragmented legal...

In developing countries, the noncommunicable disease (NCD) and risk factor burdens are shifting toward the poor. Treating chronic diseases can be expensive. In developing countries where generally much health care costs are borne by patients themselves, for those who live in poverty or recently...

Decision makers and the public are in need of information to guide their decisions about how to strengthen health services. This book pulls together available evidence concerning strategies to improve health services delivery in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), using current methods to...

The working-age share of Egypt's population (the share of the population 15-64) hovered around 54 percent between 1960 and 1990. Starting in 1990, fertility started declining significantly and the working-age share of the population reached an all-time high of 62.6 percent in 2010, before...

Egypt's population program began in the early 1970s and was very successful in bringing down the country's total fertility rate (TFR), the mean number of children a woman will have by age 50. Key investments in reproductive health and family planning (FP), as well as women's empowerment,...