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Yazbeck, Abdo S.

Global Practice on Health, Nutrition, and Population, The World Bank

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Health equity and access, Health economics and finance, Benefit incidence analysis

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Global Practice on Health, Nutrition, and Population, The World Bank

Last updated January 31, 2023

Biography

Abdo Yazbeck is the health practice manager for Eastern and Southern Africa and a lead health economist. He holds a PhD in economics with a focus on health and labor. His most recent assignment was as a manager in the Europe and Central Asia Department for Human Development. Prior to that, he was the program leader at World Bank Institute’s Health and AIDS Team for five years. He previously worked for seven years in South Asia operations as a senior health economist supporting health projects in Bangladesh, India, Maldives, and Sri Lanka. Abdo also worked as a senior health economist in the private sector focusing on Africa, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union after being part of the team for World Development Report 1993: Investing in Health and teaching economics at Rice University and Texas A&M University. He has authored/edited six other books, including Better Health Systems for India’s Poor, Learning from Economic Downturns, Reaching the Poor with HNP Services, and Attacking Inequality in the Health Sector.

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 18

Immunization in India : An Equity-Adjusted Assessment

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-03) Gaudin, Sylvestre ; Yazbeck, Abdo S.

An analysis of the 1992-93 National Family and Health Survey (NFHS) revealed wide differences in levels, and distribution of childhood immunization between, and within Indian states. Evidence of total system failure (no immunization for all) in some low performance areas suggested that improvements in immunization levels may come with a worsening of the distribution of immunization based on wealth. Using the latest NFHS data (1998-99), we take a new snapshot of the situation and compare it to 1992-93, focusing on heterogeneities between states, rural-urban differentials, gender differentials, and more specifically on wealth-related inequalities. In order to assess whether improvements in levels were accompanied by distributional improvements (or whether inequalities were reduced at the expense of overall achievement), we use recently developed methodology to calculate an extended achievement index that captures performance both in terms of efficiency (change in overall immunization rates) and equity (distribution by wealth quintiles) for each of the seventeen largest states. Comparing 1992-93 to 1998-99 levels using different degrees of "inequality aversion" provides no evidence that distributional improvements come at the expense of overall performance.
Health Policy Research in South Asia : Building Capacity for Reform

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2003-08) Yazbeck, Abdo S. ; Peters, David H. ; Yazbeck, Abdo S. ; Peters, David H.

The richness of the research papers in this volume makes it difficult to quickly capture the main themes and implications of their research. But three repeated themes can be highlighted: equality of public spending, the role of the private sector, and the role of consumers. On the theme of equality in public expenditures, research in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka shows that in some parts of South Asia-such as south India and Sri Lanka-governments do a much better job of distributing subsidies in the health sector than other regions. The research overwhelmingly documents the dominance of the private sector in Bangladesh and India and finds a very strong private sector in Sri Lanka. The research also highlights different policy instruments available to the government for working with the private sector to achieve health sector outcomes. A third general theme is the role of consumers and the mechanisms available to them to influence health services delivery. The authors in this volume have supported the belief that individuals and households can make a difference in how health services are delivered. While the three themes summarized above cut across several of the chapters in this volume, a more basic theme underlies all the chapters and is the main motivation for conducting health policy research. That theme is that empirical research can and should challenge basic assumptions about the health sector and will provide policymakers some of the tools needed to improve and monitor the performance of the sector.
Better Health Systems for India's Poor : Findings, Analysis, and Options

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2002) Peters, David H. ; Yazbeck, Abdo S. ; Sharma, Rashmi R. ; Ramana, G. N. V. ; Pritchett, Lant H. ; Wagstaff, Adam

This report focuses on four areas of the health system in which reforms, and innovations would make the most difference to the future of the Indian health system: oversight, public health service delivery, ambulatory curative care, and inpatient care (together with health insurance). Part 1 of the report contains four chapters that discuss current conditions, and policy options. Part 2 presents the theory, and evidence to support the policy choices. The general reader may be most interested in the overview chapter, and in the highlights found at the beginning of each of the chapters in part 2. These highlights outline the empirical findings, and the main policy challenges discussed in the chapter. The report does not set out to prescribe detailed answers for India's future health system. It does however, have a goal: to support informed debate, and consensus building, and to help shape a health system that continually strives to be more effective, equitable, efficient, and accountable to the Indian people, and particularly to the poor.
WBI-China Health Sector Partnership : Fourteen Years and Growing

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2004-02) Yang, Chialing ; Shanlian, Hu ; Yazbeck, Abdo S.

Structural transformation of China's economy in the 1980s and its impact on the health sector created a critical need for skills and research capacity in health economics and financing. In 1989 the Government of China (GOC) enlisted the World Bank Institute (WBI) to work with China's Ministry of Health (MOH) to organize senior policy seminars addressing emerging health issues and to establish a network of institutions to train academic faculty and government officials. In 1991 GOC launched the China Health Economics Network, which in fourteen years has expanded membership from seven to nineteen institutions, offered health sector courses, and led to the training of more than 2,100 executives and trainers. Network research and senior policy seminars have supported critical government policy decisions. Replication of this successful network model is possible in large countries.
Benchmarking Health Systems in Middle East and North Africa Countries

(Taylor and Francis, 2017-01-31) Wang, Huihui ; Yazbeck, Abdo S.

Health systems are not easy to benchmark, in part because the health sector produces more than one outcome. This article offers two ways of benchmarking the health systems of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) focusing on two different outcomes, health status and financial protection. The first approach is by measuring the gap between predicted health outcomes based on country socioeconomic status and actual health outcomes. The second approach is by simply comparing the levels of out-of-pocket (OOP) spending in MENA countries. The article offers some interesting findings about the large heterogeneity in both health system outcome achievements despite considerable cultural and linguistic similarities in the region. Moreover, three discrete clusters of countries are found on the health status measure. The findings also give specific health system target outcomes for MENA countries to focus their reform efforts.
Who Needs Big Health Sector Reforms Anyway?: Seychelles' Road to UHC Provides Lessons for Sub-Saharan Africa and Island Nations

(Taylor and Francis, 2018-11-06) Workie, Netsanet Walelign ; Shroff, Emelyn ; Yazbeck, Abdo S. ; Nguyen, Son Nam ; Karamagi, Humphrey

The road to universal health coverage (UHC) needs not be driven by big reforms that include the initiation of health insurance, provider–funder separation, results-based financing, or other large health sector reforms advocated in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere. The Seychelles experience, documented through a series of analytical products like public expenditure reviews and supporting surveys with assistance from the World Bank and World Health Organization (WHO), shows an alternative, more incremental reform road to UHC, with important lessons to the region and other small-population or island nations. Done well, in some countries, a basic supply-side funded, publicly owned and operated, and integrated health system can produce excellent health outcomes in a cost-effective and sustainable way. The article traces some of the factors that facilitated this success in the Seychelles, including high political commitment, strong voice and a downward accountability culture, strong public health functions, and an impressive investment in primary health care. These factors help explain past successes and also provide a good basis for adaptation of health systems to dramatic shifts in the epidemiological and demographic transitions, disease outbreaks, and rising public expectation and demand for high quality of care. Once again, how the Seychelles responds can show the way for other countries in the region and elsewhere regardless of the types of reforms countries engage in.
Introduction to Special Issue on Health Financing in East and Southern Africa

(Taylor and Francis, 2018-09-24) Schneider, Pia ; Yazbeck, Abdo S. ; Lindelow, Magnus

This special issue on health financing in East and Sothern Africa comes at an opportune time. Economic growth in the region is contributing to a changing lifestyle and an increasing burden of noncommunicable diseases, such as diabetes, which are costlier to treat. Coupled with the unfinished health agenda of communicable diseases and maternal and child health, demand for health care is increasing rapidly and putting financial pressure on governments. A risky response in a resource-constrained setting is governments reallocating funds away from the poor to more expensive specialist and tertiary care. Another risky response relates to ways of raising additional revenues, especially in countries where health facilities already charge user fees in the absence of prepayment. Relatively poor patients who pay fees when seeking care may have to sell assets and incur debts, which may push them into poverty or deeper into poverty. Protecting households against falling into poverty and ensuring access to essential health services are thus top priorities for governments committed to universal health coverage (UHC) in the region. Achieving this objective requires solving several pertinent problems.
Africa's Demographic Transition: Dividend or Disaster?

(Washington, DC: World Bank; and Agence Française de Développement, 2015-10-22) Canning, David ; Raja, Sangeeta ; Yazbeck, Abdo S. ; Canning, David ; Raja, Sangeeta ; Yazbeck, Abdo S.

This book lays out a range of policy actions that are needed at the various phases of the demographic transition and uses global and regional experiences to provide evidence on what has worked and what has not. Countries have a menu of options available to speed up the transition, improve investment in the resulting youth cohort, expand labor markets, and encourage savings. This book not only looks at lessons from East Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, but also at unique demographic characteristics in Sub-Saharan Africa. Harnessing the demographic dividend means, first and foremost, empowering women and girls by improving their health, enhancing their human capital through increased investment in education and skills, and providing them with greater market, social, and decision-making power. The full potential of the demographic dividend can be realized in Sub-Saharan Africa with proactive policies that can help to make it happen.
Learning from Economic Downturns : How to Better Assess, Track, and Mitigate the Impact on the Health Sector

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2013-10-03) Hou, Xiaohui ; Velényi, Edit V. ; Yazbeck, Abdo S. ; Iunes, Roberto F. ; Smith, Owen

Many countries around the world are moving toward universal health coverage, while navigating through periods of economic crisis. The impact of the economic downturn of 2008-09 on the health care sector has renewed efforts to make health systems more resilient during and after economic downturns. Health policy makers and development practitioners are grappling with how to better identify areas that make the health sector vulnerable to economic downturns, and how to track and mitigate the impact of economic downturns. To effectively manage the challenges resulting from economic uncertainty, the health sector must look at recent failures and successes as a learning opportunity for improvement, with the end result being greater health system resilience. This book, financed by the rapid social response program at the World Bank, responds to these challenges facing the health sector. It introduces a framework for assessing, tracking, and mitigating (A.T.M. framework) the impact of economic downturns on the health sector. This framework provides policy makers and practitioners in the health sector with a more systematic way to design and implement policies that can protect people, particularly the poor, from the negative effects of economic downturns. This book illustrates the benefit of implementing rapid surveys to track the impacts of crises in real time as economies shrink, and emphasizes the importance of building effective health information systems that can regularly monitor system changes. Analysis of several country case studies in developing countries sheds light on the importance of linking the health sector with the social protection sector, particularly social safety nets, using the common identification and targeting methods to reach the poor and the vulnerable. The more recent lessons from several European Union (EU) countries emphasize the importance of political economy in implementing policy reforms during economic downturns and again illustrate how the data can help facilitate more evidence-based policy making.
Health Sector Reform in the Middle East and North Africa: Prospects and Experiences

(Taylor and Francis, 2017-01-31) Yazbeck, Abdo S. ; Rabie, Tamer S. ; Pande, Aaka

The mass protests that swept the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region since December 2010 called for social justice and a dignified life and well-being for all citizens. Beyond the political and economic dimensions, these popular uprisings were also fueled by a strong sense of discontent with struggling health systems that have not delivered on the promise for better, more affordable, and equitable healthcare. This special issue of Health Systems & Reform examines government efforts that have been adopted since 2011 to address imminent health system challenges in the MENA region. It attempts to capture some of the fundamental health sector reforms that have been adopted by MENA countries to address their population‟s demands for better health care service delivery, access, and equity. The articles included in this special issue relate to projects that have been financed by the World Bank in the last six years, or where technical assistance was provided by the World Bank to MENA governments.