Performance-based financing in healthcare: What works and what doesn’t
Performance-based financing can motivate healthcare providers to deliver services more effectively, ultimately improving health outcomes – when the conditions are right.
Strong health systems for all: Making public spending go further
Strong health systems need sufficient financing. Yet, with foreign aid cuts and strained domestic budgets, the way forward may be to spend available money better.
Health insurance in developing countries: What do we know?
Without health insurance, both women and men are worse off, and women typically more so. But does health insurance deliver on its promise in LMICs, and how do we pay for it?
Did you know? Role of information in healthcare
Whether a public program is offering contraceptives, cancer screening, or subsidized health insurance – equipping target populations with the right information is key.
Getting public health programs right
Public health programs play a key role in the health sector in low- and middle-income countries. What makes some programs more effective than others?
Role of gender in doctor-patient encounters
Various aspects of women’s lives, their families and sociocultural settings constrain their healthcare-seeking behaviors. Are there also elements of the health system that keep females away?
How social scientists elicit truthful responses on sensitive matters
Understanding women’s healthcare-seeking involves examining attitudes, behaviors, and preferences. In traditional surveys with direct questions, respondents may choose to conceal their true opinions. Researchers employ various techniques to address this issue.
Women’s health: Of religion, culture, and stigma
Women’s healthcare decisions are made within households. Households are part of communities and may be influenced by factors such as religious beliefs, cultural norms, and stigmas.
Gender disparities in healthcare: Rational choice or innate bias?
When resource-constrained households prioritize healthcare for male rather than female members, is it ‘rational’ economic choice or entrenched gender bias?
The disease burden is shifting – and it is gendered
Globally, the disease burden is tilting towards non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Younger populations are increasingly affected and among this demographic, a greater proportion of female deaths are attributable to NCDs relative to males. There is a need to take cognizance of these trends by expanding and adapting the women’s health agenda, which remains largely focused on reproductive health.