Miscellaneous Knowledge Notes

664 items available

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Pakistan Health Financing System Assessment: Providing an Empirical Foundation for National and Sub-National Health Financing Strategy Dialogues - Policy Brief
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-13) World Bank
Accelerated progress towards and achievement of universal health coverage (UHC) has become a central goal of the Government of Pakistan’s (GoP) policy agenda in health in recent years. Both at the center and in the provinces, Pakistan’s domestic governments have now consistently reiterated, through the National Health Vision 2016–2025 and other essential agenda setting documents, their joint commitments to making UHC and primary care access a priority across the country. The federal and provincial governments have initiated critical UHC and primary health care (PHC) related interventions. First, Pakistan has become an early adopter of the Disease Control Priority 3 (DCP3) framework and, in collaboration with the DCP3 Secretariat and the World Health Organization (WHO), has begun implementing for the first time a prioritized Essential Package of Health Services (EPHS). Another major program led by the federal government and now adopted by the provincial governments is the social health protection initiative, the Sehat Sahulat Program (SSP). The program, a tax-financed scheme, provides cash-free coverage to inpatient hospital services at empaneled public and private hospitals for eligible low-income populations (households earning less than US2 dollar per day). The EPHS and the public health insurance scheme are two promising developments that together hold the potential to expand health coverage, grow existing health finance resource pools, and improve efficiency of public health expenditures. Each would in turn help achieve broader objectives in a health financing system that has to date produced concerningly lagging health and human development outcomes. However, faced with resource needs significantly higher than current health expenditures, and a particularly turbulent near-term macro-fiscal environment, the GoP’s ability to sustainably fund crucial UHC priorities has become decidedly uncertain.
Vietnam Macro Monitoring, December 2024
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-13) World Bank
Industrial production improved in November 2024, driven by an increased production of key export and manufactured products. While staying in expansionary territory, Vietnam’s PMI inched down slightly from 51.2 in October to 50.8 in November as the growth of new orders softened. Exports and imports growth continued to slow, driven by a contraction of tech exports (phones and equipment) and a small deceleration of non-tech exports (including footwear and textiles) due to weaker global demand and lingering supply chain disruptions caused by typhoon Yagi. Year-on-year export growth moderated from 10.2 percent y/y in October to 8.2 percent y/y in November. Mirroring the moderation of export growth, import growth decelerated from 13.6 percent y/y in October to 9.8 percent y/y in November. The trade balance registered a small surplus of 1.1 billion US dollars in November 2024 and totaled US 23.8 billion dollars in the first 11 months of 2024. Revenue collection during the first 11 months of 2024 was 16.1 percent higher than during 2023 due to improved economic activities. Revenue collection reached 106.1 percent of what had been planned for 2024. The public investment disbursement rate accelerated from 52.3 percent of the Prime Minister’s approved budget allocation in October 2024 to 73.5 percent in November 2024. However, it remained slightly below the 76.5 percent disbursement rate from the same period of last year.
Water for Food: Modernizing Agriculture for a Climate-Smart Future
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-07) World Bank
Agriculture is a thirsty business, accounting for 70 percent of global freshwater withdrawals - and climate change makes it harder for farmers to produce enough to feed the planet. The 2030 Water Resources Group (WRG) advances sustainable water use in agriculture and builds food systems that are more resilient in the face of a changing climate.
Water for Planet: Helping Countries and Companies Reuse Water and Reduce Pollution
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-06) World Bank
Each year, water pollution accounts for 1.8 million deaths and costs businesses an estimated 425 billion dollars. The 2030 Water Resources Group (WRG) supports industries and utilities to use water more efficiently and recycle more of the freshwater they consume. By changing incentives, strengthening regulatory frameworks, and improving markets, one can make water treatment and reuse a smart investment.
Networks of Practice in Urban Ghana: Design and Implementation - Key Lessons from Formative Research in Ayawaso Central and Atwima Nwabiagya Municipal
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-03) World Bank
This brief presents insights and lessons for the Networks of Practice (NoP) program in urban Ghana, based on formative research conducted in Ayawaso Central, Greater Accra Region and Atwima Nwabiagya Municipal, Ashanti Region. The research used Patient Pathway Analysis (PPA) and Summative Network Analysis (SNA) to understand and compare patient journeys in settings with and without NoPs. The NoP program has not yet expanded into urban areas, but studying patient journeys and the healthcare provider situation in urban settings provides essential information for patient oriented NoP design. Features that were found to be specific to urban districts include a higher density of health providers, a greater role of private health facilities and clinics as compared to rural areas, and higher out-of-pocket expenditure on healthcare. For successful NoP implementation, network formation in urban areas will need to be tailored to the prevailing care delivery landscape and healthcare utilization patterns. This may include upgrading selected public sector facilities to become network hubs and enhancing collaboration with private sector providers to strengthen urban networks. Urban NoPs can advance Ghana’s ambition to increase access to quality primary care, robust referral pathways, and financial protection for all healthcare users in the country. Further research in various urban and peri-urban districts of Ghana and implementation of urban NoP pilots will be beneficial for shaping an NoP program suited to urban health systems
Networks of Practice in Ghana: Learning from Implementation in Two Districts Key Lessons from Research in Dormaa Central and Hohoe Districts
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-02) World Bank
The research conducted in Dormaa Central and Hohoe districts in Ghana provided several key findings regarding the Networks of Practice (NoP) program. The study included Patient Pathway Analysis (PPA) and Summative Network Analysis (SNA) to understand and compare patient journeys and network configurations between districts with NoPs and those without. In Dormaa Central, four NoPs were established in November 2020 with USAID/R4D support, while in Hohoe, three NoPs were started in January 2021 with KOFIH support. The research revealed notable positive effects of NoPs in the delivery of health services, including facility-level improvements, service enhancements, and increased collaboration between health facilities. However, some key goals of NoPs, such as strong referral gatekeeping to reduce the patient load at higher-tier facilities, were not fully achieved. Patient preference for higher-tier facilities persisted due to perceived quality and the spectrum of services available at different levels of care. Despite this, districts with NoPs showed a shift towards increased utilization of health centers that were NoP hubs. The study also highlighted improved awareness of the hub and spoke model of care, willingness, and evidence of cross-facility collaboration and sharing of resources.
Water for Cities: Keeping Water in the Taps so Cities can Thrive
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-02) World Bank
One in three cities is at high risk of water stress. The 2030 Water Resources Group (WRG) helps cities prevent, respond to, and recover from water crises. This is done by facilitating partnerships between governments and businesses to manage water more effectively and create resilient and water-secure cities.
Education Finance Watch 2024: Key Findings about Education Financing
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-24) World Bank; UNESCO
The Education Finance Watch (EFW) is a collaborative effort between the World Bank, the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). The EFW aims to provide an analysis of trends, patterns, and issues in education financing around the world.
Thailand Monthly Economic Monitor, October 2024
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-24) World Bank
The economy decelerated slightly. Manufacturing and private consumption weakened while exports and tourism continued to support growth. Growth is projected to accelerate to 2.4 percent in 2024, with further improvement expected in the second half of the year driven by increased budget execution and goods exports. Despite low government investment disbursement, the THB 10,000 cash handouts for low-income households may stimulate growth. However, flooding poses downside risks to growth and may add to price pressure. Inflation edged up due to fresh food and core inflation. The Thai baht appreciated due to expectations of a Federal Reserve easing cycle and a current account surplus. The Bank of Thailand (BOT) unexpectedly lowered the policy rate by 25 basis points to 2.25 percent.
Vietnam Macro Monitoring, October 2024
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-23) World Bank
Gross domestic products (GDP) growth registered 7.4 percent (y/y) in Q3-2024 at Viet Nam, its highest in two years, driven by non-tech exports and the ongoing domestic demand recovery. Typhoon Yagi hit northern Viet Nam in September, leading to significant economic damages of US 3.2 billion (0.7 percent of GDP). Agricultural production was the hardest-hit sector, accounting for 38 percent of the total economic losses. FDI investments expanded robustly, totaling US$ 24.6 billion in the last 12 months, an 8.3 percent increase compared to a year earlier. Inflation continued to moderate, registering 2.6 percent (y/y) in September 2024, from 3.5 percent in August 2024, as transport prices declined, food inflation remained stable and core inflation decelerated to 2.5 percent (y/y). Slow budget disbursement continues to remain a concern, with 59.3 percent of the public expenditure plan disbursed in the first nine months of 2024 (slightly below the disbursement rate of 59.7 percent at the same period last year), including 47.3 percent of public investments executed.