Results: 59

    Climate change: effective ways of cutting greenhouse gas emissions

    There are few rigorous impact evaluations of climate change interventions. But some examples in the field of conservation stand out. A number of recent studies evaluate the impact of protected areas, payment for environmental services and decentralized forest management. Climate change interventions have...

    Health insurance for the poor: myth or reality

    A growing evidence base suggests that health insurance in poor areas can improve people?s access to health care. But the poorest in these areas do not seem to benefit much. Health insurance programs, generally, have not helped in reaching out to the poorest or improving their health care use. And whether...

    Financing better health care for all

    Poor people?s access to good health care is limited because they cannot afford it and often live far from quality services. There is evidence that poor people will pay to use health services if the quality is good. Cash transfers have also been highly successful in encouraging women to use health care. A...

    Water to save lives

    Contaminated water is bad for health, resulting in thousands of premature deaths around the world each year. There is strong evidence that household water treatment has the biggest impact and is the most costeffective method in reducing risks of diarrhoea. But the picture is not as clear when it comes to...

    Running water, working toilets and safe hygiene practices: essential services to save lives

    The world is falling behind its targets to improve people’s access to sanitation, with major health costs. There is strong evidence that both sanitation and hygiene interventions are highly effective in reducing risks of diarrhoea, however public health promotion appears more cost-effective. More evide...

    3. 2 million stillbirths: epidemiology and overview of the evidence review

    More than 3.2 million stillbirths occur globally each year, yet stillbirths are largely invisible in global data tracking, policy dialogue and programme implementation. This mismatch of burden to action is due to a number of factors that keep stillbirths hidden, notably a lack of data and a lack of conse...

    Policy brief 12: how can gender equity be addressed through health systems?

    Gender differences in health and in how well health systems and health care services meet the needs of women and men are well known: in Europe, there are variations in terms of life expectancy, the risk of mortality and morbidity, health behaviours and in the use of health care services. There is also in...

    Policy brief 10: how can health systems respond to population ageing?

    All countries in Europe are experiencing an ageing of their populations, a trend that is projected to continue until at least the middle of the twenty-first century. This process is often regarded as a major cause of upward pressure on health care costs. However, analyses of health care expenditure show ...