During the early 2000s, Argentina's total expenditures on health, as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), placed it among the top-20 countries in the world in per capita health spending. For example, Argentina spent 8.9 percent of GDP in 2000 and 10.1 percent in 2006. The per-capita...

This paper describes the functioning and performance of Argentina's Provincial Maternal and Child Health Investment Program, commonly referred to as Plan Nacer. The program is aimed at increasing access - for uninsured pregnant women and children under six years old - to a basic set of health...

Nicaragua has embarked on an ambitious health sector program, which has contributed to significant progress in the health sector over the past decade. Health indicators show gradual but steady improvements: access to basic services such as clean water and sanitation facilities has improved, as...

Public health observatories proactively investigate health issues to provide robust analytical evidence to policy makers. This type of organization has different characteristics from other public health institutions, such as information-gathering bodies, academic public health departments, or...

Throughout the world, governments are moving from being exclusively service delivery organizations and toward improving their public health sector management and stewardship capacity. To diversify service provision, the Bangladesh Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) is striving to...

The aim of the study is to better understand adolescents' sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs in order to inform the design of interventions and policies that improve access to and use of adolescent SRH services in Niger. A mixed-methods study was conducted and included: (i) a...

This study examines the determinants of adolescent sexual behavior and fertility in Nigeria, with a special focus on knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of adolescents aged 10-19 years old in Karu Local Government Authority (LGA), a peri-urban area near the capital city of Abuja. Using the last...

The aim of the study is to understand the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) behavior and determinants among adolescents in El Salvador using data from a survey of 1,258 adolescents’ aged 10-19 and 12 interviews with representatives from the Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Education...

Considerable progress has been made towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) since 1990. Although advances in improving MDG 4 and MDG 5a (reducing child and maternal mortality, respectively) have been made, progress is some countries have been insufficient. While some...