Person:
El-Saharty, Sameh
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
Health policy; health reform; health systems; health management; public health; maternal health; child health; non-communicable diseases; health service delivery; human resources; primary health care; hospital reform; health insurance; health financing; Global, Middle East region; Africa region; South Asia region
Degrees
ORCID
Departments
Health, Nutrition and Population
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated
January 31, 2023
Biography
Sameh El-Saharty works as Lead Health Policy Specialist at the World Bank in Washington, DC. Before joining the Bank, he held several positions with international organizations, academic institutions, and consulting firms such as USAID, WHO, UNFPA, Harvard University, the American University in Cairo, Georgetown University, and Pathfinder International. He has extensive experience for over 40 years working as researcher, technical advisor, and international consultant on public health, health policy and management, health insurance, and health sector reform programs in more than 30 countries in the MENA region, Africa, South Asia, and in the US. His recent work has focused on health systems with particular interest in health service delivery. He is currently a member of the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) Dean’s Leadership Council, HSPH Alumni Council, the Executive Committee of the World Bank-International Monetary Fund Arab Association, and the Advisory Committee of the MENA Health Policy Forum. He is a Medical Doctor, graduated from Cairo University, and earned an MPH degree from the Military Medical Academy, Egypt, a Fellowship in Social and Economic Policy from Harvard Kennedy School, and a Master of Health Policy and Management from Harvard School of Public Health.
Publication Search Results
1 - 10 of 22
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Tackling Noncommunicable Diseases in Bangladesh : Now is the Time
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2013-08-21)This report is organized in such a way that the key policy options and strategic priorities are based on the country context, including the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and associated risk factors and the existing capacity of the health system. Chapter one describes the country and regional contexts and the evidence of the demographic and epidemiological transitions in Bangladesh; chapter two outlines the disease burden of major NCDs, including the equity and economic impact and the common risk factors; chapter three provides an assessment of the health system and its capacity to prevent and control major NCDs; chapter four summarizes ongoing NCD interventions and activities in Bangladesh and highlights the remaining gaps and challenges; and chapter five presents key policy options and strategic priorities to prevent and control NCDs. -
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Population, Family Planning and Reproductive Health Policy Harmonization in Bangladesh
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-11)Over the past 30 years, Bangladesh has achieved significant economic and human development progress, and demonstrated impressive policy as well as programmatic commitment to lowering the fertility level. However, its future socioeconomic prospects may be hampered by its population growth rate, depending on how quickly the fertility rates decline and at which point they stabilize. Projections estimate that the total population of Bangladesh in 2051 could increase to 218.1 million under a laissez faire projection scenario and 201.3 million under an accelerated fertility transition (AFT) scenario. This difference would have significant impacts on public spending, public services, and job creation. An AFT scenario would enable the country to improve the dependency ratios possibly resulting in economic benefits from harnessing the demographic dividend for several decades. To accelerate the demographic transition, the government will need to revitalize high-level coordination to ensure multisectoral engagement in population policies, including increasing the age at marriage, and improving education, skills development, job creation, and social safety nets for the vulnerable population groups. In addition, a sustained decline in fertility through increased access and coverage of family planning (FP) services is crucial, mainly by focusing on lagging regions and hard-to-reach areas, and by expanding the supply and provision of FP long acting and permanent methods. Strengthening the synergy and coordination of service delivery between the Health and FP directorates by building capacity for systems strengthening; promoting cross-referral between programs; and efficient provisioning of FP and reproductive health services through community clinics need to remain at the forefront of the government s health improvement efforts in Bangladesh. -
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Bhutan : Maternal and Reproductive Health at a Glance
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-11)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) is higher among the poorest quintile than the richest. Large disparities in access to skilled birth attendant remain by geography and wealth quintile. Poor nutrition is a serious issue for pregnant mothers, since 55 percent of women are anemic. Bhutan will need to focus on increasing the focus on quality along the continuum of care; improving access and equity; and ensuring sustainability of health financing. -
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Bangladesh : Maternal and Reproductive Health at a Glance
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-11)Bangladesh is among the most densely populated countries in the world. Poverty remains high at 43 percent of the population subsist on less than United States (U.S.) $1.25 per day (2010). Bangladesh achieved several millennium development goal (MDG) targets in education, health, and poverty reduction. Gender equality and women's empowerment are important determinants of reproductive health. While fertility and contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) are evenly distributed, wide gaps in access to maternal health services remain. Bangladesh will need to focus on increasing political commitment to adolescent health; focusing interventions on high-fertility and high maternal mortality ratio (MMR) areas; addressing human resources constraints; and harnessing the use of technology. -
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India : Maternal and Reproductive Health at a Glance
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-11)India is the third largest economy and has the second largest population in the world. It achieved millennium development goal (MDG) on poverty reduction; however, gender inequality still persists. Maternal mortality rate is 190 deaths per 100,000 live births, representing a 65 percent decline from 1990. Fertility fell to 2.5, while contraceptive prevalence rate increased to nearly 55 percent. Seventy-four percent of women sought antenatal care (ANC) from a qualified provider and 52 percent of births were attended by qualified providers. Wide gaps in contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) and access to skilled-birth attendance remain by geography and wealth quintile. India will focus on preventing unwanted pregnancies especially among adolescents; improving demand-side strategies; strengthening access and quality in public and private sectors; improving antenatal, intranatal, and postnatal care; strengthening monitoring and evaluation (M and E) systems and reducing inequities; and improving nutrition. -
Publication
The Path to Universal Health Coverage in Bangladesh: Bridging the Gap of Human Resources for Health
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2015-05-22)Bangladesh is committed to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) by 2032; to this end, the government of Bangladesh is exploring policy options to increase fiscal space for health and expand coverage while improving service quality and availability. Despite Bangladesh’s impressive strides in improving its economic and social development outcomes, the government still confronts health financing and service delivery challenges. In its review of the health system, this study highlights the limited fiscal space for implementing UHC in Bangladesh, particularly given low public spending for health and high out-of-pocket expenditure. The crisis in the country’s human resources for health (HRH) compounds public health service delivery inefficiencies. As the government explores options to finance its UHC plan, it must recognize that reform of its service delivery system with particular focus on HRH has to be the centerpiece of any policy initiative. -
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Nepal: Maternal and Reproductive Health at a Glance
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-11)Nepal has made a remarkable progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially in extreme poverty and education. Nepal has achieved MDG 5 but only one in three births is attended by skilled medical personnel. Disparities exist in access to maternal care by residence and wealth quintiles. The total fertility rate has declined to 2.4 in 2012, along with increased contraceptive use at 50 percent. High unmet need of 27 percent still remains. Nutritional deficiencies for pregnant and lactating women remain a challenge. Nepal has initiated a number of key interventions to respond to increased adolescents needs for health services, improve accessibility and quality of services at local level, and enhance equitable access to services through micro-planning exercise and provision of financial protection. -
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Maldives: Maternal and Reproductive Health at a Glance
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-11)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 has increased but high unmet need of 28.1 percent is of concern. Skilled birth attendance is high at 95 percent. Access to maternal health services is fairly equitable by residence and wealth quintile, while geographical access to services remains challenging. Also, unwanted pregnancies among young women are on the rise. Maldives has initiated a number of interventions to increase adolescents needs for sexual and reproductive health services, improve quality of RMNCH services, and increase utilization of health services at local level. -
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Capitalizing on the Demographic Transition : Tackling Noncommunicable Diseases in South Asia
(World Bank, 2011-06-02)This book looks primarily at Cardio Vascular Disease (CVD) and tobacco use because they account for a disproportionate amount of the Non Communicable Disease (NCD) burden the focus is strategic rather than comprehensive. It considers both country and regional level approaches for tackling NCDs, as many of the issues and challenges of mounting an effective response are common to most South Asian countries. The prevention and control of NCDs constitute a development issue that low-income countries in South Asia are already facing. Both country and regional-level strategies are important because many of the issues and challenges of mounting an effective response to NCDs are common to most South Asian countries, even though their disease burden profiles vary. Hence, the rationale for this book is that strategic decisions for prevention and treatment of NCDs can effectively address the future burden of disease, promote healthy aging, and increase the potential benefit from the demographic transition, thus contributing to economic development. This book's goal is to encourage countries to develop, adopt, and implement effective and timely country and regional responses that reduce the population-level risk factors and NCD disease burden. -
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Achieving the Demographic Dividend in the Arab Republic of Egypt: Choice, Not Destiny
(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2022)The Arab Republic of Egypt was well on the path to achieving its demographic dividend at the turn of this century but has gone off track due to a reversal in its earlier fertility decline. But what is the demographic dividend? It reflects the economic benefits when a country undergoes a rapid decline in mortality, then fertility, and the consequent demographic transition. Due to lower fertility and fewer children per household, a growing working-age population increases productivity and per capita income, leading to accumulated savings, investments, and economic growth, underscoring the strong link between demographics and economic growth. Fortunately, Egypt has the political will, resources, and capacity to achieve its demographic dividend in the next decade, as this report by a team of Egyptian and World Bank experts shows. It reviews the trends in determinants of the rising total fertility rate, the likely factors that contributed to Egypt’s fertility decline reversal, the government’s initial response, and the sectoral and social drivers that may have influenced this fertility decline reversal. It also assesses the economic impact of the demographic changes, including estimates of forgone savings due to the increased fertility and of potential future gains if the country were to regain and then accelerate its fertility decline. Drawing on global evidence, the report proposes six policy and strategic priorities, complemented by four policy imperatives. These priorities aim to increase the contraceptive prevalence rate (the most important of the six), reduce school dropouts, increase female labor force participation, delay early marriage, leverage social protection programs, and improve governance of the country's population program. The four imperatives aim to assure broad-based socioeconomic development and they include creating productive jobs; investing in and leveraging human capital; enhancing financial inclusion and entrepreneurship, especially for women; and sustaining macroeconomic stability. The president's "Decent Life Initiative" and the "National Project for the Development of the Egyptian Family" can be used as the platform to implement many of the proposed policies and strategies. In such a manner, Egypt will be back on track to achieve its demographic dividend.