World Bank publishes a new book on inequalities in the health sector
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The main purpose of the new World Bank publication is to make available the accumulated knowledge of successful policy and analytical tools in this fight to reverse the vicious circle of income-poverty and ill health. The book presents both a practical set of analytical tools for understanding the causes of inequality in the use of health services and a menu of proven pro-poor policy actions. It is based on the evaluation of 14 successful policy changes in low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and a review of the published literature on inequality in the health sector. As this books shows, however, policy answers are neither easy nor uniform.
The World Bank has ample evidence about the levels of inequality in more than 50 low- and middle-income countries and knows which outcomes and which services show the highest levels of inequality. Most important the international organisation has evaluations of experiences from countries designing and implementing pro-poor policies that are having measurable success. The new book puts all this knowledge in one place.
The next challenge is turning this knowledge into further action in the global effort to reduce poverty.
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page last updated on 15.07.2009