Since independence, India has struggled to provide its people with universal health coverage. Whether defined in terms of financial protection or access to and effective use of health care, the majority of Indians remain irregularly and incompletely covered. Finally, and most recently, a new...

Health care expenditures can be financed through a mix of public resources and private spending. Private spending is a much larger share of total health spending in low- and middle-income countries than in higher income countries. Moreover, a significant percentage of private spending in those...

Maldives, a middle income country, is on track to meet most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), while gender gap requires attention. Maldives has made great progress in improving maternal health and has achieved MDG. The total fertility rate has declined to 2.3 in 2012. Contraceptive use...

Bhutan is a small landlocked country in the Himalayas between China and India. Poverty reduction has been rapid from about 23 percent in 2007 to 12-13 percent in 2012. Gender equality and women's empowerment are important determinants of reproductive health. Contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR)...

One of the key constraints to improving health outcomes in the developing world relates to equitable and efficient health financing. In most developing countries, a large portion of health expenditure is private and out-of-pocket (Gottret and Schieber 2006). This book represents a synthesis of...

Health care expenditures can be financed through a mix of public resources and private spending. Private spending is a much larger share of total health spending in low- and middle-income countries than in higher income countries. Moreover, a significant percentage of private spending in those...