This book identifies the achievements and challenges of social policy in Peru. Its objective is to provide the new presidential administration of Peru with a diagnostic of the main problems that need to be overcome to improve education, health care, and anti-poverty programs, and with...

This paper describes the health financing policies used today by African countries to expand health coverage. It identifies key health financing policies used by African countries and measures the existence of regional patterns in the use of these policies. The paper does not attempt to identify...

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...

This note describes the experience of RECURSO - the Spanish acronym for Accountability for Social Reform (REndicion de CUentas para la Reforma SOcial), a successful effort to create the missing link: high expectations. The RECURSO program provided the impetus for the establishment of...

The note describes the importance of population aging world-wide, clarifying its prevalence among middle- and low-income countries, which suggests that many developing countries are getting old before they are growing rich. The note then asks in what way population aging is an economic problem...

This paper documents a review of results monitoring in the portfolio of the Latin America and Caribbean Region Human Development Department (LCSHD) of the World Bank. While several aspects of results monitoring have improved in recent years, and while a focused department-level action plan made...

Since the early 1990s, the importance of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) to global health has gained increased recognition. This report contains an agenda for action in response to the growing economic, social, and health problems posed by NCDs. Its objective is to enable the World Bank...

Ghana has made substantial progress toward universal health coverage (UHC) andcompares relatively well in health outcomes among its economic peers. Internationalcomparisons of government current health expenditure suggest that Ghana spends less than the sub-Saharan African norm for its income...

While high levels of political commitment to improve health outcomes in the state have ensured that Andhra Pradesh (AP) ranks fourth among the category of twenty-one large states in the NITI Aayog Health Index, the health sector is challenged by an epidemiological transition with rising...