Sector/Thematic Studies
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Economic and Sectoral Work are original analytic reports authored by the World Bank and intended to influence programs and policy in client countries. They convey Bank-endorsed recommendations and represent the formal opinion of a World Bank unit on the topic. This set includes the sectoral and thematic studies which are not Core Diagnostic Studies. Other analytic and advisory activities (AAA), including technical assistance studies, are included in these sectoral/thematic collections.
Sub-collections of this Collection
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Country Gender Assessment -
Recent Economic Development in Infrastructure -
Energy Study -
Energy-Environment Review -
Equitable Growth, Finance & Institutions Insight -
Debt and Creditworthiness Study -
General Economy, Macroeconomics, and Growth Study -
Legal and Judicial Sector Assessment -
Gender Innovation Lab Federation Causal Evidence Series -
Health Sector Review
Items in this collection
1 - 10 of 1122
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Publication
Greening Public Human Development Buildings in Croatia: Support for the Implementation of the European Green Deal in the Croatian Health and Education Sectors
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-05-18)The goal of this policy note is twofold: first, to identify and propose how to address some of the key regulatory and implementation hurdles that Croatia and potentially other EU Member States are facing in greening their HD infrastructure while improving HD outcomes; and second, to compile best practices and examples in green design, construction, and renovation of public HD buildings. The Note will also provide guidance and encourage dialogue among relevant policy makers at national, regional, and local levels, and with targeted clients. Furthermore, the recommendations would address the importance of green skills development and other related topics relevant to the implementation of EUGD. Overall, the analysis results and the recommendations on these issues could also be useful for World Bank experts and other external stakeholders focused on the green economy and human development. -
Publication
Jobs, Food and Greening: Exploring Implications of the Green Transition for Jobs in the Agri-food System
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-05-16)The agri-food system (AFS) employs about one third of the global workforce and contributes about one third of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This together with its large exposure to the effects of climate change and environmental degradation makes what happens in AFS central to the green transition and its implications for jobs and the structural transformation. Microeconomic evidence suggests that the adoption of climate smart agricultural practices will increase labor requirements, at least in the short run and at lower levels of incomes, when its mechanization is still limited. Econometric macro-model-based simulations suggest however that especially substantial investment in climate friendly agricultural R&D as well as soil and water preserving practices and market integration will more than offset the negative effects of climate change and even accelerate the structural transformation, especially in Sub Saharan Africa. Overall, the findings underscore the tremendous potential of increasing agricultural and climate friendly R&D investment for brokering an environmentally sustainable structural transformation. Repurposing of agriculture’s current US$ 638 billion support package towards supporting more climate friendly practices, including to overcome the time lag between the moment of investment and the realization of the benefits, provides an important policy entry point. -
Publication
Protecting Human Capital Through Shocks and Crises: How lessons learned from the COVID-19 response across Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus can be used to build better and more resilient human development systems
(World Bank, Washington DC, 2023-04-20)Risk and uncertainty are on the rise, and countries across Europe and Central Asia (ECA) are not immune from it. The region is being hit by crises, conflicts, and continued uncertainty that are negatively affecting people’s livelihoods in the short term and prosperity in the long term. Then COVID-19 hit, inflicting massive harm on people’s wellbeing, livelihoods, and human capital. Lockdowns prevented people from working, school closures prevented students from learning, and overwhelmed hospitals had to defer important treatments. This report explores how to strengthen the resilience of health, education, and social protection systems to better protect people’s human capital from the long-term effects of recurrent shocks and crises. -
Publication
Estudio Sobre Capacidades de Preparación y Respuesta Efectiva Ante Emergencias de Salud Pública en El Salvador
(Washington DC, 2023-04-18)La reciente crisis ha evidenciado la necesidad que tienen los países de identificar capacidades y brechas existentes para asegurar que sus sistemas de salud estén preparados para soportar el estrés causado por una emergencia sanitaria, que pueden ser extensas y de gravedad, y que además amenazan la prestación rutinaria de servicios esenciales de salud. En ese sentido, el fortalecimiento de muchas de las áreas del sistema de salud también contribuye a fortalecer la seguridad sanitaria y viceversa, el fortalecimiento de las capacidades de preparación y respuesta ante emergencias en muchos sentidos fortalece el sistema de salud en general. Existe una superposición entre esfuerzos para fortalecer los sistemas de salud para que sean confiables y sostenibles y fortalecer la seguridad sanitaria. Por ello, es importante identificar y promover aquellas inversiones que fortalecen las capacidades de preparación y respuesta ante emergencias sanitarias y que a su vez contribuyan a fortalecer el desempeño del sistema de salud y lo haga más resiliente. -
Publication
Improving Behavioral Change Interventions: A Closer Look at 4Ps Family and Youth Development Sessions
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-04-10)An important component of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the flagship conditional cash transfer (CCT) program of the Philippines, is the delivery of complementary services such as Family Development Sessions (FDS) and Youth Development Sessions (YDS) to program beneficiaries. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, these were regular face-to-face sessions providing practical information on topics such as parenting, early childhood care, and disaster preparedness to adult beneficiaries and guidance on adolescent dynamics to young children in 4Ps households, with the overall aim of promoting positive behavioral changes. This technical note examines the process undertaken to enhance and align the content of the FDS and YDS based on the 4Ps law that mandates a maximum 7-year operational period, and it discusses feedback and insights from beneficiaries and implementers. Moreover, it considers the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdowns, which have led to mobility restrictions among beneficiaries and implementers since March 2020. Due to the pandemic, the delivery of FDS have relied mostly on broadcast and social media platforms, with options for small group neighborhood sessions in areas with low rates of COVID-19 infections, while YDS have been mostly suspended due to school closures nationwide, without in-person gathering. For a more effective delivery of these learning sessions, this policy note proposes key recommendations on adapting to future shocks and emerging beneficiary needs, developing strategic communications, mobilizing resources, strengthening monitoring and evaluation, and connecting to core values. In particular, it proposes regular updating of module content to maintain relevance and applicability, strengthening alternative modes of program delivery to increase coverage, providing training to facilitators to improve capacity, raising awareness to increase program uptake, creating a clear monitoring and evaluation system to track progress, leveraging the use of technology, and providing post-program exit support to sustain positive behavioral changes among beneficiaries. -
Publication
Preventing, Preparing for, and Responding to Disease Outbreaks and Pandemics: Future Directions for the World Bank Group
(Washington, DC, 2023-01-11)This paper has outlined an ambitious agenda for the WBG to support PPR enhancement at country, regional, and global levels as part of a broader approach to strengthen health systems. It is an agenda that not only seeks to deliver on the Bank’s IDA commitments related to disease outbreaks and crisis response but also to respond to demands from all our shareholders, clients, and other stakeholders for the Bank to play a key role in strengthening PPR capacities at country and regional levels through a wider health system strengthening agenda. Policy commitments from IDA’s Human capital special themes support the building of resilient health systems that can provide core essential health services and have the capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to disease outbreaks and other health emergencies an approach that will ensure sustainability, efficiency, and effectiveness. The paper has highlighted that PPR is an inherently multisectoral agenda. Further, the paper has argued that there are large financing gaps to fill, particularly in LICs and MICs. Looking forward, the WBG will support strengthening of PPR through actions in three interconnected domains: 1) financing; 2) global engagements and partnerships; and 3) analytics, evidence, and dialogue. -
Publication
Sustaining Action Against Antimicrobial Resistance: A Case Series of Country Experiences
(Washington, DC, 2022-10-17)Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when microbes, bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites, evolve in ways that reduce medicine’s ability to fight them. AMR has made many infections, particularly bacterial infections, increasingly difficult or even impossible to treat. Without effective medicines, the number of people with severe microbial infections will increase, as will the number of people who die from these infections. In 2019, 4.95 million deaths were associated with AMR, with the highest AMR-attributable death rates occurring in western sub-Saharan Africa.8 While AMR is a natural evolutionary process that occurs over time, many human-led behaviors have increased its occurrence. The main drivers of AMR include: (1) the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials; (2) lack of access to clean water and adequate sanitation for people and animals; (3) poor infection prevention and control measures in healthcare facilities and farms; (4) limited access to quality, affordable medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics; and (5) lack of awareness and knowledge about AMR. Additionally, for countries to progress from planning to acting, AMR coordination committees must have a clearly defined role and the remit to develop and implement an operational plan. Operational plans should embed NAP activities into the national development agenda, sectoral strategies, and budgets, and should coordinate an aligned approach to delivering NAP activities across sectors and stakeholders. Creating and empowering AMR coordination committees and comprehensively implementing and monitoring the prioritized activities outlined in their NAPs operational plan takes time; but there are several relatively easy entry points for AMR action that countries can utilize to accelerate their fight against AMR. The remaining case studies in this series showcase successful actions against AMR that three countries, Burkina Faso, Jordan, and Malawi, have taken along their journey to fully operationalizing and implementing their NAPs on AMR. -
Publication
Putting Pandemics Behind Us: Investing in One Health to Reduce Risks of Emerging Infectious Diseases
(Washington, DC, 2022-10)The COVID-19 crisis brought home the high costs of pandemics, triggering a historic setback in the fight against poverty. It also reinforced the interconnections between people, planet and economy, calling attention to the zoonotic nature of pathogens spilling over from animals to people. To decrease their burden, we must focus on prevention. The One Health approach proposes a way forward to reduce risk of spillover. Recognizing that the health and well-being of humans, animals, and their shared ecosystems are interdependent, One Health is designed as an integrated, practical, multisectoral framework for pandemic prevention. By stopping infectious diseases from spilling over to people and spreading to become pandemics, One Health provides a solid foundation for global health security and improved development outcomes at much lower societal and economic costs. This report aims to shed light on the benefits of prevention to serve as a wake-up call for policymakers and finance ministers alike. The report also outlines an investment framework and One Health architecture for zoonotic disease prevention. As you will read on these pages, compared to the sky-high cost of bringing pandemics under control, relatively modest investments in prevention will pay huge dividends. -
Publication
Libya Economic Monitor, Summer 2022
(Washington, DC, 2022-08)Libya is struggling to cope with a trifecta of crises, including the civil conflict, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and most recently, the impact of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Notwithstanding the tempering of conflict intensity since 2021, the Libyan economy has been battered by the conflict. GDP per capita estimates in 2021 stood at about half of its value in 2010 before the start of the conflict. Since 2020, the population has been hit by multiple waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. The health system, already affected by a decade of conflict, has struggled to deliver the necessary access and quality of care amid a raging pandemic. While Libya has reported a marked decline in COVID-19 cases and deaths since March 2022, the vaccination rate remains low. In addition, food insecurity has worsened, precipitated by the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the resulting shortages and price increases for staple foods in the domestic market. -
Publication
Behavioral Science and COVID-19: An Interactive Solutions Guide for Better Policy Design
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-07-27)The first Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases were reported in December 2019 (WHO, 2020). Governments around the world have tried various interventions to stop the COVID-19 spread and encourage vaccination. With growing evidence of the governments’ COVID-19 efforts to deal with the pandemic, this guide aims to summarize interventions and applications, and their effectiveness to address the following three COVID-19 topics: How to reduce COVID-19 spread; How to encourage people to get vaccinated; and How to address misinformation and fake news.