Activities
2001 in more detail - Research
There is increasing
evidence that improved health contributes to poverty reduction.
However, the potential of this contribution needs to be further
explored and analysed, both on a conceptual and an operational
basis. HDE, in collaboration with academic institutions and
other partners, is preparing a series of studies and working
papers that will highlight these links.
Initially HDE will
explore the role of health in current social development
thinking by analysing and reviewing work of other partners in
this field. This includes analysis of different poverty
reduction frameworks and their relevance to health.
In collaboration with
academic institutions and agencies, HDE will develop a research
agenda on social policies and social determinants of health
which will serve as a basis for the development of policies for
poverty reduction and human development.
Multi-country
analysis of national policies on health and poverty reduction
HDE is undertaking a
large policy study that will examine the policies of national
governments in health and poverty reduction. The study will
break new ground by directing attention at interventions
(policies and programmes) which are designed to produce better
outcomes for the poor. Starting from the premise that national
governments are the most important agents potentially capable of
producing change, the study will focus on the policy positions
of national governments and their consequences. The initial
enquiry will be limited to low and lower middle income
countries.
There are two areas of
national policy that this study will investigate. In the area of
health policy, the question is whether and to what extent
poverty - or the health of poor people - figures as a concern,
what policies are defined to address the issue, whether these
are mere rhetoric or attract substantial attention and resources
in practice, and what impact is discernible when these policies
are implemented?
In the area of poverty
reduction, the question is whether health figures, and if it
does the ways in which it is perceived as making a contribution
to poverty reduction. If health does not figure in poverty
reduction programmes, the question becomes the rationale for its
omission. The aim of the study is to generate new knowledge of
several types including:
- An inventory of national health
policies, with special attention to their impact on the health
of the poor, which identifies the types of policies that
national governments are pursuing in a large group of low to
lower-middle income countries, and indicates the numbers and
characteristics of countries pursuing each type
- An appraisal of the health
sector’s current level and nature of involvement in poverty
reduction initiatives in low and lower-middle-income countries,
analyzed by country characteristics
- An assessment of the impact of
selected interventions on the health of the poor in a small
subset of countries, and implementation lessons from experience
to dates.
While this programme of
work is located firmly within the technical role of HDE, it is
anticipated that the findings from the study will in due course
be applied in the HDE role of support to policy formulation.
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