Country Policy Brief
42 items available
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These policy briefs examine specific sector topics of importance to a country's development strategy.
Items in this collection
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Publication
Policy and Strategic Priorities for Egypt to Reap its Demographic Dividend: Policy Brief
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-10)Egypt’s population program began in the early 1970s and was very successful in bringing down the country’s total fertility rate (TFR), the mean number of children a woman will have by age 50. Key investments in reproductive health and family planning (FP), as well as women’s empowerment, contributed to an impressive decline in the country’s TFR from 4.5 to 3.0 between 1988 and 2008. Egypt’s population will continue to grow in the foreseeable future. For Egypt to reap its demographic dividend, the authors present six policy and strategic priorities that - if well implemented - should yield the greatest reduction in fertility. The six priorities are: increasing the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) - the central priority; reducing school dropouts; increasing the female labor force participation rate (LFPR); delaying age of marriage; leveraging social protection programs; and improving the governance of the population program. -
Publication
Economic Impact of Population Growth in Egypt: Policy Brief
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-10-01)The working-age share of Egypt’s population (the share of the population 15-64) hovered around 54 percent between 1960 and 1990. Starting in 1990, fertility started declining significantly and the working-age share of the population reached an all-time high of 62.6 percent in 2010, before gradually falling to 60.8 percent in 2020. This decline is economically disadvantageous, as gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, and the dependency ratio are inversely correlated in Egypt, as they are globally. With the sharp decline in the dependency ratio, driven by the sharp decline in fertility and the youth dependency ratio during 1990-2010, GDP per capita continued to grow. Egypt is paying a heavy economic price for its high fertility - and the burden will continue to grow. The actual outcome will depend on government social and economic policies - a choice, not destiny. -
Publication
Closing the Gap: Why Achieving Universal Health Coverage in Malawi Now Requires Targeted Investment in Underperforming and Underserved Districts
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-11)Most countries now agree that striving for universal health coverage (UHC) is important as it helps ensure health for all, while enhancing health security nationally, regionally and globally. Launched in 2004, the Malawi's Essential Health Package (EHP) has already gone some way towards increasing access to health services and improving health outcomes. This policy brief explores Malawi’s health system gaps and geographic variations across the three key dimensions of service availability, service readiness, and clinical knowledge of providers. -
Publication
Enhancing Human Capital in Malawi: The Role of Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Services
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-11)Human capital is the combination of knowledge, skills and health that people accumulate throughout their lives, which allows them to realize their potential as productive members of society. The productivity of a country is affected by the quality and availability of maternal and child health services more generally. Simply put, countries which invest heavily in maternal and childhood interventions, together with high-quality nutritional support, are more productive. Recognizing this, the government of Malawi is implementing its ambitious Second Health Sector Strategic Plan (2017-2022) and an aligned National Multi-Sector Nutrition Policy, which promote a range of evidence-based interventions to improve maternal and child health. This policy brief draws on Malawi’s 2018-2019 Harmonised Health Facility Assessment (HHFA) to identify the key health sector service gaps that stand in the way of children growing up healthy and being productive members of their communities and country. -
Publication
Vietnam: Overview of Tobacco Control Legislation, Use and Taxation
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-05-29)This country brief presents an overview of current tobacco control legislation, use, and taxation policy in Vietnam. Data and information were collected from different sources. The brief is intended to serve as the context for complementary assessments on different aspects of tobacco taxation in the country to be shared with government teams and other national and international stakeholders. Vietnam is a party of Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and its legislation contains several effective measures aimed to curb the tobacco epidemic. There is a growing consensus in the country about the need for the government to strengthen tobacco control to protect the population from health risks associated with tobacco use. However, the state-ownership of tobacco industry poses a major paradox within the government that benefits from the manufacturing of tobacco products and is also responsible for controlling tobacco consumption.The prevalence of smoking is high, especially among men. Although it was the highest in the world in the 1990, it has substantially declined since that period. However, over 35 percent of men are still regular cigarette smokers. While fewer than 2 percent of women smoke, women and children are exposed to high levels of second-hand smoke at home and in public places, and this exposure also harms and kills. It is estimated that 40,000 people are dying prematurely each year in Vietnam from tobacco-related diseases. In Vietnam, as in other countries across the world, smoking-related illnesses cost millions of dollars each year, both in terms of direct medical costs and productivity losses, imposing a heavy economic toll on households and governments. -
Publication
Adolescent Girls in Malawi: Introduction and Overview
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-06-17)Adolescence is a time of transitions that foster both challenges and opportunities. Indeed, choices made during adolescence not only have immediate consequences but also greatly influence the economic opportunities, health outcomes, and skill sets attained later in life, and yet it is the same period when social norms create pathways largely defined by gender. Poverty and ethnic minority status can further magnify gender discrepancies for youth worldwide, as reductions in household spending on education, health care, and nutrition are often more likely to affect adolescent girls than boys. In Malawi, adolescents make up 24% of the total population, a substantial proportion that is expected to become higher than neighboring countries if current trends continue. The high prevalence of child marriage and teenage pregnancy among Malawian girls greatly contributes to the high fertility and population growth trends, and is also closely interrelated with a range of economic and socio-cultural determinants that perpetuate a vicious cycle for the poorest and most vulnerable girls and have costly consequences for them and for the nation as a whole. In order to initiate the potential for a demographic dividend, Malawi will need to initiate a demographic transition. Reducing child marriage and teenage pregnancy can significantly contribute to the fertility declines needed to accelerate this demographic transition and would lead to better life outcomes for adolescent girls and better opportunities for the next generation. Accordingly, this series of policy briefs focuses on four key areas of interventions (or pillars) as follows: (i) maintaining girls in school; (ii) equipping out-of-school girls with skills; and (iii) beginning a family and supporting girls to adopt healthy lifestyles; and (iv) addressing the child development needs of children born to teenage mothers. -
Publication
Keeping Girls in School: A Review of the Global Evidence
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-06-17)Gender gaps in education have closed in almost all countries, especially at the primary level. In fact, these gaps have reversed in many countries in secondary education, especially in Latin America, the Caribbean, and East Asia, where it is now boys and young men who are disadvantaged. Despite the overall progress, however, primary and secondary school enrollments for girls remain much lower than for boys for disadvantaged populations in many Sub-Saharan countries and some parts of South Asia (World Bank 2012). One of the key messages of the World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development is that much of the progress was possible when the removal of a single barrier was sufficient to make significant gains. Three main areas where this has been possible are: (i) increasing returns to education for women; (ii) removing institutional constraints; and (iii) increasing household incomes. In this policy brief, we summarize the extant evidence in these three areas and draw some policy conclusions. -
Publication
Keeping Girls in School: Situation Analysis for Malawi
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-06-17)International evidence indicates that keeping girls in school positively impacts their life trajectory and benefits the well-being of the next generation. Malawi has made progress in increasing overall enrollment rates, but additional effort is still needed to ensure that adolescent girls stay in school and complete a quality education. Starting in the upper grades of primary school, adolescent girls are more likely to drop out of school than their male counterparts with pregnancy, early marriage, and school fees frequently cited as the main reasons. One of the key challenges in Malawi will be to both focus on girls before they reach puberty and ensure that they get the support they need to complete primary school and successfully transition to secondary school. Meanwhile, adolescent boys will also need support and guidance to invest in their own education and to value the education of their female peers as a way to build stronger families and communities and break the inter-generational cycle of poverty. The Government of Malawi will need to assess the effectiveness and sustainability of its policy and programs, including those by partners, to scale and consolidate accordingly in order to avoid a scattered approach. -
Publication
Providing Out-of-School Adolescent Girls with Skills: Situation Analysis for Malawi
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-06-17)Promoting relevant technical and life skills is one option to empower adolescent girls by increasing their capacity to generate income and therefore by enhancing their bargaining power within the household. This Note presents a situation analysis of the current skills set and employment outcomes of adolescents (aged 15-19 years) in Malawi, with a focus on adolescent girls. The Note draws on several sources of data, including the Malawi Labor Force Survey 2013. The data reveal that female adolescents are as active in the labor market as their male counterparts, but are more likely to be unemployed and earn less. Furthermore, girls report marriage, pregnancy, or family responsibilities as constraints when making decisions about investments in education and training, or seeking work. However, further analysis is necessary to understand how these trends affect choices made by adolescent girls and their households. -
Publication
Adolescent Girls in Malawi: Executive Summary
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-05)Adolescence is a time of transitions that foster both challenges and opportunities. Indeed, choices made during adolescence not only have immediate consequences but also greatly influence the economic opportunities, health outcomes, and skill sets attained later in life, and yet it is the same period when social norms create pathways largely defined by gender. Poverty and ethnic minority status can further magnify gender discrepancies for youth worldwide, as reductions in household spending on education, health care, and nutrition are often more likely to affect adolescent girls than boys. In Malawi, adolescents make up 24% of the total population, a substantial proportion that is expected to become higher than neighboring countries if current trends continue. The high prevalence of child marriage and teenage pregnancy among Malawian girls greatly contributes to the high fertility and population growth trends, and is also closely interrelated with a range of economic and socio-cultural determinants that perpetuate a vicious cycle for the poorest and most vulnerable girls and have costly consequences for them and for the nation as a whole. In order to initiate the potential for a demographic dividend, Malawi will need to initiate a demographic transition. Reducing child marriage and teenage pregnancy can significantly contribute to the fertility declines needed to accelerate this demographic transition and would lead to better life outcomes for adolescent girls and better opportunities for the next generation. Accordingly, this series of policy briefs focuses on four key areas of interventions (or pillars) as follows: (i) maintaining girls in school; (ii) equipping out-of-school girls with skills; and (iii) beginning a family and supporting girls to adopt healthy lifestyles; and (iv) addressing the child development needs of children born to teenage mothers.
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