Reliable information on how health service strategies affect the poor is in short supply. In an attempt to redress the imbalance, 'Improving Health Service Delivery in Developing Countries' presents evidence on strategies for strengthening health service delivery, based on systematic reviews of the literature, quantitative and qualitative analyses of existing data, and seven country case studies. The authors also explore how changes in coverage of different health services affect each other on the national level. Finally, the authors explain why setting international targets for health...

Increasing life expectancy in South Asia is resulting in a demographic transition that can, under the right circumstances, yield dividends through more favorable dependency ratios for a time. With aging, the disease burden shifts toward noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) which can threaten healthy aging. However, securing the gains expected from the demographic dividend where developing countries working and nondependent population increases and per capita income thus rises is both achievable and affordable through efficiently tacking NCDs with prevention and control efforts. This book looks...

Bangladesh is undergoing a double transition--demographic and epidemiological. Increasing life expectancy and declining fertility entail a demographic transition fueling a shift in the disease burden toward noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Yet due to absence of a robust routine health information system in the country, it is hard to accurately assess the disease burden and corresponding risk factors. So, using a wide range of sources, this book looks at the status of major NCDs in Bangladesh (and briefly in South Asia), touches on their economic impact, analyzes their common risk factors, and...

South Asia Region (SAR) has decreased maternal mortality ratio (MMR) by 65 percent between 1990 and 2013, which was the greatest progress among all world regions. Such achievement implores the question, What made SAR stand out against what is predicted by standard socioeconomic outcomes? Improving Maternal and Reproductive Health in South Asia: Drivers and Enablers identifies the interventions and factors that contributed to reducing MMR and improving maternal and reproductive health (MRH) outcomes in SAR. In this study, the analytical framework assumes that improving MRH outcomes is...