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ICT and health [chapter] | ICT and MDGs : a World Bank Group perspective

WORLD BANK GROUP
December 2003

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This article explores the impact of ICTs on health care within developing countries. Topics covered include research and training of health-care workers, achieving health-related MDGs, and storing and disseminating health information. Details are also provided of selected World Bank-funded projects

Education and HIV/AIDS : a sourcebook of HIV/AIDS prevention programmes

WORLD BANK. Education Team
2003

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Education sectors of affected countries are playing an increasingly important role in the fight against HIV/AIDS. This sourcebook aims to support efforts by countries to strengthen the role of the education sector in the prevention of HIV/AIDS. It provides concise summaries of programmes around Africa, highlighting the main elements of the programme as well as what lessons can be learned from them

Reducing maternal mortality : learning from Bolivia, China, Egypt, Honduras, Indonesia, Jamaica, and Zimbabwe

KOBLINSKY, Marjorie
2003

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"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"

Dying for change : poor people's experience of health and ill-health

DODD, Rebecca
MUNCK, Lise
2002

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Drawing on the accounts from the World banks ‘Voices of the Poor’ this booklet looks at the intimate link between health and poverty and the need for health to be central to attempts at poverty reduction. Three key lessons are: [1] People view and value their health in a holistic sense, as a balance of physical, psychological and community well-being, consistent with the WHO view of health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. [2] People overwhelmingly link disease and ill-health to poverty, while poverty is also seen in terms of instability, worry, shame, sickness, humiliation and powerless-ness. [3] Health is valued not only in its own right, but because it is crucial to economic survival. Other lessons include: the fact that ‘poor people’ are not homogenous and in particular women and men, and the young and old, experience poverty and ill-health quite differently. Gender differences include the fact that men access and are seen as more entitled to formal health care, while women more often draw on traditional and alternative health services or defer their own treatment. Attitudes of health staff often appalling. Humiliating treatment by health personnel who treat people as ‘worse than dogs’ was a common experience and barrier to getting treatment. Access to health facilities, rarely built in poor areas, and often too costly to access are a problem. WHO concludes that "there can be no real progress on poverty reduction, or improvement in health outcomes, unless economic and social inequities are tackled"

Meeting the needs of people with disabilities : new approaches in the health sector. A technical note

WIMAN, Ronald
HELANDER, Einar
WESTLAND, Joan
2002

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Today many people with disabilities tend to be disempowered and deprived of economic and social opportunities and security because they are excluded from areas of social life. Furthermore, they are also underserved by most public and private institutions and services. As a result, people with disabilities tend to be the poorest of the poor and their health is vulnerable.
The role of the health sector in the prevention of disabling conditions, in addressing disabling diseases and limiting their effects, as well as in rehabilitation is central. Therefore, health sector interventions should address the disability dimension to best facilitate poverty reduction.
In order to provide disabled people with a health care system that addresses their needs, several steps are needed. Governments must support equal opportunities for all and the disability dimension must be included into economic and social life

Maternal health care in rural Uganda : leveraging traditional and modern knowledge systems

MUSOKE, Maria
January 2002

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A case study of the RESCUER project, in Iganga District, Eastern Uganda. The project was designed to link the traditional rural community health providers with the formal health delivery system in a cost-effective way. The increased number of deliveries under trained personnel, and increased referrals to health units, led to a reduction of about 50 percent in the maternal mortality rate (MMR) in three years

Orphans and other vulnerable children : what role for social protection?

LEVINE, Anthony
Ed
October 2001

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This report records the proceedings of the conference Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children: What Role for Social Protection? This two-day conference sought to promote awareness of the extent of the orphan and other vulnerable children crisis caused by HIV/AIDS, to provide practitioners with a forum to share best practices and other insights, and to probe the role of social protection in implementing a balanced response

Evaluating health projects : lessons from the literature

STOUT, Susan
et al
1997

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This report reviews the literature on the causes of observed changes in health and fertility levels, the evaluation of policies, and programs designed to accelerate these changes; and presents the findings of earlier assessments of the World Bank's work in the Health, Nutrition, and Population (HNP) subsectors. A framework outlining the relationships between Bank activities in the sector, the characteristics of the health care system, household behavior, and changes in health outcomes is presented; and four evaluative criteria for assessing the performance of health care systems are identified. Broadly, the approach anticipates that Bank activities are more successful, as measured by their influence on system performance, when they achieve an appropriate fit between the institutional incentives, which determine the supply of health goods and services, the nature of those goods and services, and consumer demand. This report ends by describing a strategy for assessing the development effectiveness of the Bank's work in the HNP sectors. [Publisher's abstract]

Promoting the growth of children : what works

GRIFFITHS, Marcia
DICKIN, Kate
FAVIN, Michael
1996

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This manual is part four of the World Bank's nutrition toolkit. It aims to help with the design and supervision of effective and feasible nutrition projects and project components and to carry out comprehensive analysis of sectoral and policy issues affecting food consumption and nutrition

Building for health care: a guide for health planners and architects of first and second level facilities

HOPKINSON, Michael
KOSTERMANS, Kees
1996

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This report looks at the different issues and actions involved in implementing a health care project in Southern Africa. It is divided into 11 sections: 1) introduction; 2) project inception, available infrastructure, needs assessment, civil works and operational costs; 3) project organization, management, planning, and implementation; 4) project brief, including: aims, planning study results, sites, equipment and components, master plans, norms, accommodation and costs, departmental planning policies, operational policy statement, building construction, budget costs, activity schedules, and design brief; 5) hospital design using specific principles and dimensions for different departments; 6) engineering; 7) costs management during construction; 8) planning of health equipment; 9) commissioning; 10) project evaluation; and 11) mistakes and how to avoid them. [Publisher's abstract].

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