Aid  often helps richer people in poor countries, World Bank says

doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7530.1425-a

BMJ 2005;331:1425 (17 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7530.1425-a

News roundup

Aid often helps richer people in poor countries, World Bank says

Geneva John Zarocostas

A new World Bank survey has found that healthcare, nutrition, and population programmes in developing countries often fail to reach the poorest people. It says strategies that deliver better results are urgently needed.

Drawing on 12 case studies in 11 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the report found that the richest 20% of the population received more than the poorest 20%—or as much as the poorest 20% in the case of government subsidised services for mothers and children.

The report says this discrepancy must be addressed, but it also cautions that a search for a few universal optimal strategies “could well turn out to be misguided.”

“There’s no silver bullet,” Adam Wagstaff, the World Bank’s lead economist on health, said.

Instead the study argues that the evidence available points to “many different but promising approaches, with the suitability of each depending on the characteristic . . . [Full text of this article]

Add to CiteULike CiteULike Add to Complore Complore Add to Connotea Connotea Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us Add to Digg Digg Add to Reddit Reddit Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon Add to Technorati Technorati What's this?