This study deals with the MDG-related topic of increasing the efficiency of countries in producing good outcomes with their available resources. The first two papers use country-level data to look at the efficiency of countries in improving health, education, and GDP outcomes. The last two use within-country data on health and education in Argentina and Mexico to look at the same issues. The analysis helps quantify how much progress could be achieved through better efficiency, and to some extent, how efficiency itself could be improved
"To assist countries in their efforts to improve maternal health and reduce maternal mortality, the World Bank is publishing two volumes: Investing in Maternal Health: Learning from Malaysia and Sri Lanka, and Reducing Maternal Mortality: Learning from Bolivia, China, Egypt, Honduras, Indonesia, Jamaica, and Zimbabwe. These two books offer success stories in improving health and reducing maternal mortality in a range of developing countries. The first book is based on the experiences of Malaysia and Sri Lanka during the past five to six decades. The second book discusses the more recent experiences of Bolivia, China (Yunnan), Egypt, Honduras, Indonesia, Jamaica, and Zimbabwe. These nine countries have made important strides in improving maternal health, and these two books outline what worked and what did not"
This paper surveys health reform in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, in the aftermath of their independence and transition from the Soviet command economy. Socio-economic, epidomiological and institutional realities face the countries. Section 2 sets out demographic and epidemiological trends, which suggest the scope and priorities for health services. The next section analyzes recent economic performance, highlighting worsening financial constraints. The existing health systems are evaluated in Section 4, centering on their primary strengths and weaknesses. Section 5 addresses critical institutional elements of the reform process, including decentralization and staffing issues. The reform agenda facing health policymakers in Central Asia is then investigated in Section 6, focusing upon empirical and descriptive aspects, in order to provide a reliable basis for discussing future options. Section 7 concludes that the large declines in real health spending signal that each country will have to do more with less. Consequently, current public health programs like maternal and child health programs will need to be restructured; improvement incentives to induce consumers and providors to behave more efficiently will have to be issued; and modorn management and quality assurance systems will have to be introduced. Although the reform debate focuses on financial sustainability, particularly attempts to bring in additional non-budget revenues, equally important is the need to focus on basic public health activities and delivery system restructuring.
