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Why Finance Ministers Care About Climate Change & Sustainable Development

Rachel Kyte's picture

If you want to fundamentally change how countries use energy, value their natural environments, or combat climate change, you have to talk to the people who hold the purse strings.

That’s what we’re doing this week. Finance ministers from countries around the world are in Washington for the annual World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings. We’re talking with them about these issues and more as we help countries shift to more sustainable development.

Underlying everything: climate change. This isn’t just an environmental challenge – it’s a fundamental threat to economic development and the fight against poverty. I can’t repeat that often enough. If the world does not take bold action now, a disastrously warming planet threatens to put prosperity out of reach for millions and roll back decades of development.

Making the most of Africa’s growth momentum

Punam Chuhan-Pole's picture

Co-authored with Luc Christiaensen and Aly Sanoh

For a decade and a half now, Africa has been growing robustly, and the region’s economic prospects remain good. In per capita terms, GDP has expanded at 2.4 percent per year, good for an average increase in GDP per capita of 50 percent since 1996.

But the averages also hide a substantial degree of variation.  For example, GDP per capita in resource-rich countries grew 2.2 times faster during 1996-2011 than in resource-poor countries (Figure 1).  Though not the only factor explaining improved performance—fast growth has also been recorded in a number of resource-poor countries such as Rwanda, Ethiopia and Mozambique (before its resource discoveries)—buoyant commodity prices and the expansion of mineral resource exploitation have undoubtedly played  an important role in spurring growth in several of Africa’s countries. Even more, with only an expected 4 or 5 countries on the African continent without mineral exploitation by 2020, they will continue to do so in the future. Yet, despite the better growth performance, poverty declined substantially less in resource-rich countries.

Bird Flu and Public Health Systems: Lessons of History

Patricio V. Marquez's picture

(image: Wikipedia Commons)

 

Here we go again!  In the last couple of weeks there has been a lot of media buzz about the outbreak of H7N9, a new deadly bird flu virus in China, centered in Shanghai and surrounding provinces and now reported in Beijing.  This outbreak follows the global panic and economic and travel disruptions caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in 2003 and the H5N1 avian influenza outbreak in 2006. 

Do Hunger and Malnutrition Make You Want to Cry? Time to Get Your HANCI Out

Duncan Green's picture

Yesterday marked the launch of the Hunger and Nutrition Commitment Index (HANCI), produced by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) with funding from Irish Aid and DFID. It looks like it could become one of the more useful annual league tables.

It may not be seen as a progressive view in the UK, but I’m a big league table fan, especially when they’re combined with access to new information. They use political rivalry to motivate politicians, the media love them, they allow good guys to be praised, as well as under-performers to be slapped, and they hand civil society some useful ammunition. The post2015 circus might be well advised to spend more time designing an effective league table, rather than adding yet more issues to its Christmas tree.

2030: Global shifts and Kenya's transformation

Wolfgang Fengler's picture

What will the world look like in 2030? Clearly, it will be very different from today and some of these changes can already be anticipated. Most of us can remember the year 1996 which is as far back in the past as 2030 is forward in the future. Today’s emerging trends will shape the world over the next two decades.

Every five years, the US’s National Intelligence Council publishes its analysis of “Global Trends”. This time, the analysis looks forward to 2030 and highlights four “megatrends” all of which will probably feel quite intuitive to people living in Africa.

Opportunities for Innovation at the BoP within India’s Healthcare Industry

Perzen Patel's picture

Healthcare has become one of India’s largest sectors – both in terms of revenue and employment. Although the country’s healthcare industry is projected to continue its rapid expansion, with an estimated market value of US $280 billion by 2020, increased population growth in India’s low-income communities has resulted in a lack of affordable and easily accessible quality healthcare for millions of people.

As a comparison China has 30 hospital beds every 10,000 people, whereas India has only 12. The figures are even more alarming for nurses. In the United States there are 98 nurses per 10,000 people and in India there are only 13.

Despite government efforts to improve widespread access to quality healthcare, India’s existing infrastructure continues to be insufficient resulting in limited treatment options, especially for low-income families.

Recognizing the need for innovation within healthcare, in 2012, Ennovent, a business accelerator, partnered with the University Impact Fund, one of the world’s first student driven impact-investing firms, to research the opportunities available for entrepreneurs, investors, mentors and experts to add value to the Indian healthcare industry.

Caution when applying impact evaluation lessons across contexts: the case of financial incentives for health workers

Jed Friedman's picture

These past few weeks I’ve been immersed in reviews of health systems research proposals and it’s fascinating to see the common themes that emerge from each round of proposals as well as the literature cited to justify these themes as worthy of funding.

Vietnam: Spreading knowledge to prevent HIV/AIDS from spreading

Dung Anh Hoang's picture

Cũng có ở Tiếng Việt

Doing something useful for my country, Vietnam, always makes me happy. And I’ve tried to get this feeling through my work in developing the transport infrastructure network in Vietnam for over 10 years. Vietnam has come a long way, but there are still many related challenges ahead to make such development sustainable.

I still recall a conversation with a Bank’s specialist on HIV/AIDS a few years ago. We were discussing about the people who have recently availed of the Voluntary Counseling and Testing centers in the Mekong Delta region for HIV tests. She pointed out that they were mostly wives of construction workers employed in infrastructure projects. Sometime later I visited the construction sites and talked to the workers and their managers about the subject. I felt so worried, as their understanding on HIV/ AIDS was quite limited and wondered what could be done to protect this group of people from such a deadly disease?

Việt Nam: “Lan truyền” hiểu biết về HIV/AIDS - hạn chế lan truyền đại dịch

Dung Anh Hoang's picture

Available in English

Tôi luôn cảm thấy vui khi làm được điều gì đó có ích cho đất nước Việt Nam. Và trong hơn 10 năm làm việc cho Ngân hàng Thế giới, tôi đã luôn nhận được niềm vui đó qua công việc của mình, một công việc giúp cho sự phát triển của ngành giao thông vận tải Việt Nam. Tuy nhiên, bên cạnh những thành tựu mà ngành giao thông vận tải Việt Nam đã đạt được, vẫn còn những thách thức cho sự phát triển bền vững của ngành khiến tôi phải trăn trở.

Tôi còn nhớ vài năm trước khi tình cờ nói chuyện với một đồng nghiệp của tôi là chuyên gia về HIV/ AIDS. Chị nói những năm gần đây ở vùng Đồng bằng sông Cửu Long trong số những người đến xét nghiệm HIV tại các Trung tâm y tế thì đa phần lại là những người phụ nữ có chồng đang làm việc ở các dự án hạ tầng giao thông. Tôi đem chuyện này kể lại cho các công nhân và cán bộ đang làm việc trong dự án của mình ở Đồng  bằng sông Cửu Long. Và tôi đã thực sự lo lắng khi nhận thấy vốn hiểu biết về HIV/ AIDS của họ rất hạn chế. Một câu hỏi cứ lớn dần trong tôi: “Chúng ta cần phải làm gì để có thể bảo vệ những con người này khỏi căn bệnh chết người?”.  

Nutrition: Cornerstone of the Post-2015 Agenda

Leslie Elder's picture

Last week marked the start of the final 1,000 days to the end of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). As the international community discusses achievements and challenges of the MDGs since the year 2000, discussions are also intensifying around the post-2015 development agenda. Many call nutrition the “forgotten” Millennium Development Goal, given continued low levels of development assistance resources in support of nutrition and the lack of progress on child underweight (MDG1c). But if we look to the future, what do international experts have to say about how nutrition should be included in the post-2015 development agenda? 

User fees and abuser fees

Shanta's picture

If user fees for health have been so vilified (including in comments on this blog), why are we bringing the subject up again?  Because new evidence calls into question the prevailing view, namely that removing user fees leads to: (i) increased use of health services and hence to (ii) improved health outcomes.  Confirming (i), the recent literature shows that (ii) does not always follow.

Principles

Raising the price of a good or service has two effects: it reduces demand and increases supply.  In the case of user fees for health, it was thought that paying for a service also makes people use it more appropriately (you don’t go to the doctor for minor ailments) and value it more than if they obtained it for free. 

So what exactly is the “science of delivery”?

Adam Wagstaff's picture

The World Bank’s president, Jim Kim, has now made two major speeches outlining his vision for the institution – one at the Annual Meetings the other at Georgetown University on April 2 ahead of the upcoming Spring Meetings.

Several themes are emerging. Two are easy to grasp and likely to resonate strongly with Bank staff and stakeholders: “ending poverty” and “boosting shared prosperity”. For years the Bank has seen fighting poverty as its mission. It has made major contributions in the areas of measuring and monitoring poverty – Bank staff have authored many of the world’s most-cited publications with poverty in the title. The Bank’s work at the country level has always had a strong anti-poverty focus. “Ending” poverty – rather than merely “fighting” it – is a natural next step. The idea of “boosting shared prosperity” also resonates. While economic growth is still seen as the principal driver of poverty-reduction, the goal has always been pro-poor growth – a concept that links naturally to the idea of “shared prosperity”.

Salt, health's silent enemy

Sumito Estévez's picture

También disponible en español

Também disponível em português

kitchen

This year, World Health Day focuses on hypertension. Specialists report a clear link between excessive salt consumption and high blood pressure. In this blog, Venezuelan chef Sumito Estévez explains how the use of salt in our cooking has changed. He also shares some ideas for reducing salt consumption and reminds us that governments are also responsible for taking measures to decrease consumption.

Coq Au Vin (Chicken in red wine) is a delicious traditional French dish. Those who have had the privilege of preparing this slow-cooked recipe know that once the sauce has thickened, practically no extra salt is needed.

Ending Open Defecation, Not by Evidence Alone

Jaehyang So's picture

Open defecation – going outside without using a toilet or latrine – is one of the most important threats to child health and human capital, period; ending it must be a policy priority.

Монголд сайн зам, сургууль, эмнэлэг хэрэгтэй байна: Яагаад хойч үедээ зориулан хуримтлал хийх талаар энэ бүх яриа өрнөөд байна в

Gregory Smith's picture

Available in English

Монголын уул уурхайн салбарын орлого ойрын хэдэн жилд эрс өсөх хандлагатай байхад хүмүүс яагаад ирээдүйдээ бид юм үлдээх хэрэгтэй гээд яриад байна вэ.  Дэд бүтцийг барьж байгуулан, Монгол хүүхдүүдийг сурган, эрүүл мэндийн үйлчилгээг  сайжруулж, ажлын байр бий болгож байгаа нь хамгийн гол чухал зүйлс биш гэж үү?  Эдгээр хөгжлийн зорилтуудад хүрснээр Монгол улс нь хойч үедээ энэ бүхнийг өгч байгаа бус уу? гэсэн гайхалтай асуултууд байна.  Монгол улс эдгээрийг хийх ёстой, гэхдээ тэд нөгөө  талдаа огцом өсөлт, хөрөнгө оруулалтын үйл явц нь сүйрэлд хүргэх вий гэдгээс хамгаалах, хойч үедээ санхүүгийн хөрөнгө үлдээх гэсэн чармайлтаасаа хамааралтай байх  юм. Орлого сайтай байгаа үедээ тодорхой хэмжээгээр хуримтлуулан хадгалах нь байгалийн нөөц баялагийн үр дүнтэй удирдлагын нэг хэсэг юм.


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