Miscellaneous Knowledge Notes

589 items available

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http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9388

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Building Climate Resilient and Environmentally Sustainable Health Systems in Africa: A Summary of Findings and Recommendations from Climate and Health Vulnerability Assessments (CHVAs) Funded by AFRI-RES Across Four Countries

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-06) World Bank

This note summarizes lessons and practices deployed in embedding climate resilience into the design of projects that received catalytic funds from The Africa Climate Resilience Investment Facility (AFRI-RES). It draws from application of the Resilience Booster Tool to specific projects, as relevant, Compendium Volume on Climate Resilient Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank (2023) and Guidance, Standards, and Good Practice Notes developed under the program.
GeneXpert Machines in Vietnam: Applying an Optimization Model to Improve Use of Diagnostic Equipment to Fight Infectious Diseases

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-08-23) Bathanti, Jacob ; Salazar, Elizabeth

Many governments struggle with how to efficiently, effectively, and equitably allocate medical supplies and equipment. Medical supplies and equipment can be expensive and prone to mismatches in use, context, and the level of expertise needed to operate them. Optimizing allocation is particularly important considering resource scarcity in many developing countries. Therefore, generating evidence to inform efficient, effective, and equitable allocation of medical supplies and equipment to maximize the benefits of scarce and often in-demand resources is crucial for improving medical care around the world. This case study examines how the World Bank financed Investing and Innovating for Grassroots Health Service Delivery project used optimization analysis to determine the best allocation of TB diagnosis machines. Identifying and combining relevant datasets and applying these within a well-defined algorithm, with the agreement of key stakeholders, enabled the national and provincial governments of Vietnam to determine where machines could be placed for maximum impact to enable and promote efficient use of expensive medical equipment.
Financing Food Insecurity Risk - A Proactive Approach: The Mauritania National Fund for Food and Nutrition Crisis Response

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-07-26) Van der Borght, Rafael ; Ishizawa, Oscar A. ; Lefebvre, Matthieu

Mauritania is highly exposed to recurrent and extreme droughts resulting in food security crises. The Government of Mauritania, with support from the World Bank, has introduced a new institutional and operational framework for the coordination and funding of responses to food security crises in the country. Established as part of this reform, as the financial backbone of this framework, The National Fund for Food and Nutrition Crisis Response (FNRCAN) aligns and optimizes the financing for responses to food security crises. The key outcomes of FNRCAN will be to enhance ex-ante financial planning for a more efficient and transparent use of resources; optimize the use of public resources through a comprehensive risk financing strategy; and secure the national budget from the fiscal impacts of climate-related shocks and contribute to the sustainability of public finances.
Children and Their Families Six Months After Pakistan’s Floods

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-07-11) Dahlin, Lauren ; Barón, Juan D

From June to August 2022, heavy monsoon rains caused severe flooding in nearly one-third of Pakistan. By February 2023, flood waters have receded in most areas, allowing for rebuilding to begin after widespread losses. Using a new round of household phone survey data, this note documents the progress and pain points in rebuilding human capital in Pakistan after the floods, building upon the findings from the first-round survey. Both rounds of the survey focus on the impacts of the floods on children and families. Specifically, this note focuses on groups who may be left behind as others recover. The note also examines indicators of recovery of particular relevance to children. Findings suggest that policymakers could ensure relief reaches the areas hardest hit by flooding and target at-risk groups in specific intervention areas.
Opportunities to Accelerate the Reduction of Childhood Undernutrition in the Sahel

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-07-06) Lufumpa, Nakawala ; Hilger, Anne ; Ng, Odyssia ; De la Brière, Bénédicte

This brief details the findings of research examining context specific determinants of growth faltering and childhood undernutrition in five Sahel countries - Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger, and Senegal. Notably, this research underscores opportunities to strengthen nutrition action in the Sahel and, consequently, build and sustain human capital in the region. The authors detail the determinants that have the largest associations with childhood undernutrition in the Sahel; examine the findings in the context of existing research; and provide recommendations to improve the effectiveness of nutrition action in this region.
Preventing Early Childhood Undernutrition in the Sahel Region: Recommendations for Small-Quantity Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplement Interventions

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-07-06) Lufumpa, Nakawala ; Hilger, Anne ; Ng, Odyssia ; De la Brière, Bénédicte

This policy note presents evidence-based guidance for the effective design, implementation, and utilization of small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) interventions in the Sahel region. SQ-LNS are food supplements containing essential nutrients and are intended for daily consumption alongside standard age-appropriate diets. SQ-LNS effectively prevent child undernutrition and improve child growth and development. The key recommendations for modifying SQ-LNS interventions in Sahel country contexts to maximize their impact on child health are presented in the report.
Tobacco Excise Taxes and Tobacco Leaf Farming— Key Considerations

(Washington, DC, 2023-04-17) World Bank

The Global Tax Program Health Taxes Knowledge Note Series focuses on topics linked to implementation of health taxes, or excise taxes on tobacco, alcoholic drinks and sugar-sweetened beverages. The purpose of this series is to provide policy makers with an overview of relevant issues and feasible policy choices in setting health taxes based on questions that emerge from the field during health tax reforms. This third brief in the series explores growth and domestic demand for tobacco leaf. The knowledge note series is funded under the Health Tax Workstream of the World Bank’s Global Tax Program: https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/the-global-tax-program
Public Services and COVID-19: Reflections from the Pacific - Trust

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-10-24) World Bank

The purpose of this note is to identify good practice in public sector management drawn from Pacific Island public service experiences of navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. These experiences were brought together through a World Bank engagement with Pacific Island countries in 2021 and 2022. The engagement identified five core aspects of Pacific Island public service management in response to COVID-19: trust, preparation, adaptable system settings, adaptable operating models, and sustainable wage bills. This first note in the series of five focuses on the importance of trust. The primary audience is public service leaders in Pacific Islands. The note will also be of interest to anyone working on designing and leading public sector management systems through rapid change, uncertainty and crises.
Economic and Social Impacts of the Recent Crises in Tonga: Insights from the April-May 2022 Round of High Frequency Phone Surveys

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-10-21) World Bank

This report includes: the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai (HT-HH) volcanic eruption (January 15, 2022) and a subsequent tsunami, COVID-19 outbreak and the associated lockdown (starting on February 2); to assess and monitor the economic and social impacts of the crises, the World Bank launched household-level HFPS with a plan to collect 6 rounds of surveys until mid-2024; surveys interview the same households across rounds to monitor various socio-economic outcomes and inform policy and government programs; and similar HFPS have been implemented in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands with Vanuatu and Fiji in the pipeline, under the World Bank Pacific Observatory initiative
COVID-19 in Papua New Guinea: Economic and Social Impacts - Insights from the Fifth Round of High Frequency Phone Surveys

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-05-31) World Bank

The fifth round of the high frequency phone survey (HFPS) interviewed 2,630 households in June 2022 on the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19, including employment and income, community trust and security and COVID-19 vaccination. It follows four rounds of surveys conducted from June 2020 to December 2021. The previous round of the HFPS (round 4), found that recovery was weak in 2021, with household incomes falling, and highlighted persistently low COVID-19 vaccination rates. While the third wave of COVID-19 was over by June 2022, PNG remains the least vaccinated country in the EAP region and could be vulnerable to future outbreaks of COVID-19. The World Bank estimates that the PNG economy contracted by 3.5 percent in 2020 before returning to positive economic growth of 1 percent in 2021. Stronger economic growth is projected for 2022, of 4 percent. In particular, strong growth is projected for the extractive sector (6.8 percent). However, the trajectory of economic recovery remains highly uncertain.