Poverty and Health Equity

USAID focuses on the link between poverty and health equity with the aim of improving access to family planning and reproductive health services for the poor in developing countries. This involves defining the issues that affect the provision of services to the poorest segments of the population, taking a more careful look at who is using services and who is left behind, and developing a strategic response for reaching the poor. The technical focus of the Poverty and Health Equity Working Group is to identify needed research, tools and approaches for addressing these issues. Particular attention will be paid to supporting the Repositioning Family Planning and Contraceptive Security Global Leadership Priority.

USAID Resources

• USAID and Peruvian Government Partner to Improve Health Care Inequities - 05/08

Publications

• Designing Health and Population Programs to Reach the Poor
  This report draws from literature on promoting greater equity in the health sector, including the findings and lessons from the World Bank's Reaching the Poor Program.
  
  
• Development and Poverty Reduction: Looking Back, Looking Ahead [PDF, 247KB]
  This paper reviews the changes in development thinking and practices, tracks the progress of development work, and maps out a course of action for the next decade.
  


• Freedom as Progress: Interview With Nobel Prize Winner Amartya Sen [PDF, 87KB]
  An interview with Indian economist and Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen.
  


• How Much Would Poor People Gain From Faster Progress Towards the Millennium Development Goals for Health? [PDF, 71KB]
  


• Improving the Health of the World's Poorest People [PDF, 105KB]
  


• Poor People's Knowledge: Promoting Intellectual Property in Developing Countries
  A review of a book edited by J. Michael Finger and Philip Schuler about development practices focused on encouraging intellectual and knowledge-based property in Africa.
  


• Priorities for Research to Take Forward the Health Equity Policy Agenda [PDF, 186KB]
  A report from the WHO Task Force on Health System Research Priorities for Equity in Health on lowering socially produced inequities in health.
  


• Reaching the Poor With Health, Nutrition, and Population Services: What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why [PDF, 1.6MB]
  


• World Development Report 2004:  Making Services Work for Poor People
  


• World Development Report 2006: Equity and Development

Tools, Data Resources, and Models for Analysis

• Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Comparative Report #6: The DHS Wealth Index 2004 [PDF, 1MB]
  


• Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Quintile Data [PDF, 485KB]
  


• PovcalNet: An Interactive Computational Tool for Poverty Data
  A tool created by the World Bank that calculates poverty measures based on countries that the user chooses.
  


• The Wealth Gap in Health Data Sheet and Brief [PDF, 136KB]
  


• World Bank Country Quintile Indicators
  


• World Bank Development Indicators Reports
  


• USAID Poverty Analysis and Social Safety Net Team

Regional Information

• Our Common Interest: Report of the Commission for Africa [PDF, 3.5MB]
  A report from the Commission for Africa proposing a course of action for developed countries and African nations to work together in the development of Africa.
  


• The Health and Wealth of Africa [PDF, 126KB]
  A paper that identifies health as an essential part of economic growth and poverty reduction and contends investing in health should be a vital part of a development strategy for Africa.
  


• World Bank Poverty in Africa
  


• Poverty in the Brazilian Amazon: An Assessment of Poverty Focused on the State of Pará
  A review of and a link to a working paper by Dorte Verner about reducing poverty rates in the Brazilian Amazon.

Additional Resources

• Department for International Development (DID)
  


• Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
  


• World Health Organization (WHO) Commission on Social Determinants of Health