Publication: Reaching the Poor with Health, Nutrition, and Population Services : What Works, What Doesn't, and Why
Date
2005
ISSN
Published
2005
Author(s)
Abstract
Health services can make an important
contribution to improved health conditions among
disadvantaged groups. Yet as the contents of this volume
make clear, the health services supported by governments,
and by agencies like ours too often fail to reach these
people who need them most. This is not acceptable. Nor need
it be accepted. The studies presented here point to numerous
strategies that can help health programs reach the poor much
more effectively than at present. In doing so, they strongly
reinforce the messages of the 2004 World Development Report
and other recent publications about the importance and
possibility of making services work better for poor people.
Different views will be formed about which of the strategies
are most promising for a particular setting-whether, for
example, one would be best advised to follow Brazil's
approach of seeking universal coverage for basic health
services, Cambodia's strategy of contracting with
non-governmental organizations, Nepal's use of
participatory program development, or some other approach.
The report provides a discussion on issues like these, in
order to build upon the important basic findings presented
herewith, i.e., that better performance is possible. In
brief, better performance in reaching the poor is both
needed and feasible. These are the two messages from this
report that will be discussed further.
Citation
“Gwatkin, Davidson R.; Wagstaff, Adam; Yazbeck, Abdo S.. 2005. Reaching the Poor with Health, Nutrition, and Population Services : What Works, What Doesn't, and Why. © Washington, DC: World Bank. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/7393 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”