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Health Care in Sri Lanka: What Can the Private Health Sector Offer?
No full textThis review represents an attempt to bridge the significant knowledge gaps on the private health sector in Sri Lanka, and foster a dialogue on opportunities for collaboration between the government and the private sector. It accomplishes this through a systematic collection and analysis of primary and secondary data on the provision, financing, and regulation of health care services. On health service delivery, the review finds that the private sector: includes a range of providers; focuses primarily on curative and outpatient services rather than preventive services; is heavily dependent on the public sector for its supply of human resources; and is concentrated in urban areas. The quality of health care services in Sri Lanka in both the private and public sectors, while better than in most developing countries, still lags behind those in more advanced countries. There is also little systematic dialogue and collaboration between the public and private sectors. On financing, the review finds that private health expenditure is more than half of total health expenditure, mostly in the form of out-of-pocket payments by households, with clear implications for Sri Lanka's progression toward universal health coverage. On stewardship and regulation, there is a clear and urgent need to bridge the existing gaps in the legal and regulatory framework, and in the enforcement of health regulations applicable to the private sector, as well as to create an enabling environment for more effective private sector participation in the health sector. The review demonstrates that the private health sector in Sri Lanka is a growing force, due both to greater investment from private players as well as greater demand from the population. The review highlights areas where a more effective engagement with the private sector could ensure that Sri Lanka is able to offer its citizens universal access to good quality health service while also stimulating economic growth
Can Conditional Cash Transfers Improve Education and Nutrition Outcomes for Poor Children in Bangladesh? Evidence from a Pilot Project
No full textThere is an increasing recognition that investment in human development at an earlier age can have a significant impact on the lifetime earnings capacity of an individual. This notion is the basis for the popularity of conditional cash transfer programs to help boost child health and education outcomes. The evidence on the impact of conditional cash transfers on health and education outcomes, however, is mixed. This paper uses panel data from a pilot project and evaluates the impact of conditional cash transfers on consumption, education, and nutrition outcomes among poor rural families in Bangladesh. Given implementation challenges the intervention was not able to improve school attendance. However the analysis shows that the pilot had a significant impact on the incidence of wasting among children who were 10-22 months old when the program started, reducing the share of children with weight-for-height below two standard deviations from the World Health Organization benchmark by 40 percent. The pilot was also able to improve nutrition knowledge: there was a significant increase in the proportion of beneficiary mothers who knew about the importance of exclusively breastfeeding infants until the age of six months. The results also suggest a significant positive impact on food consumption, especially consumption of food with high protein content
Nepal Country Opinion Survey Report (July 2013 - June 2014)
No full textThe Country Opinion Survey for FY2013 in Nepal assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in gaining a better understanding of how stakeholders in Nepal perceive the WBG. It provides the WBG with systematic feedback from national and local governments, multilateral/bilateral agencies, media, academia, the private sector, and civil society in Nepal on 1) their views regarding the general environment in Nepal; 2) their overall attitudes toward the WBG in Nepal; 3) overall impressions of the WBG s effectiveness and results, knowledge work and activities, and communication and information sharing in Nepal; and 4) their perceptions of the WBG s future role in Nepal
The Legacy of Otto Stein - New Evidence
No full textThe demand for the so-called "Aufarbeitung" of the NS-period in German Indology has produced fairly large volumes on those figures that have been identified as the strongest and most active supporters of the regime, and the volumes dealing with Hauer and Wüst, which are indispensable reading for everyone interested in the period, may not have exhausted the topic. Nevertheless, the focus on the culprits has one drawback. lt is likely to leave those in the dark who are mostly enumerated as the victims. While we know quite a deal about Hauer's strange world view, we have only a very basic idea of the lives of the the Jewish Sanskritists who were forced into exile (Sheftelowitz, Scherman) or killed in the holocaust (Strauss, Stein). We have four hundred pages on Wüst, but only seven on Otto Stein. From the perspective of the history of Indology this is to be regretted and one can only hope that more can be found out about the two Jewish scholars of Sanskrit in Prague, Moritz Winternitz and Otto Stein
Lehrbuch der modernen bengalischen Hochsprachen
No full textDieses Lehrbuch stellt eine grundlegende Einführung in das Bengalische dar. Es ist sowohl ein klassisches Lehrbuch als auch eine umfassende, deskriptive Grammatik. Es eignet sich für den Unterricht mit einem Lehrer, kann aber auch für den Selbstunterricht ohne Lehrer genutzt werden
Drone Strikes and Terrorism in Pakistan: Rather a Part of the Problem than a Solution?
No full textThe paper deals with drone strikes as a instrument for combating terrorism and its impact on Pakistan
India-Nepal relations and the Impact of Hindu-Nationalism
No full textThe essay examines the external relation between India and Nepal considering the Hindu Nationalism
Youth in the Maldives : Shaping a New Future for Young Women and Men through Engagement and Empowerment
No full textThis report responds to the growing concern over issues facing Maldivian youth today, and specifically, to a request made by the Ministry of Youth and Sports to examine the status of youth in the Maldives. Such concerns are certainly warranted, particularly in light of a regional youth bulge which is taking place in South Asia, as well as an observed increase in at risk behavior such as youth drug use and membership in gangs. While a number of studies have sought to examine youth issues in the Maldives, a comprehensive and holistic assessment is lacking. This report was aimed at helping to fill this knowledge gap. This report examines issues affecting young people in the Maldives as they transition from adolescence to adulthood, and based on this analysis and a review of international good practice, recommends a number of actions for the Government s consideration. The analysis focused on youth experiences as they pertain to: health, education, labor, family structure, gangs and violence, and civic engagement and participation. A youth development framework, based on public health literature and adapted to the Maldives, serves as the organizing structure of the report. The report draws on original data collection and analysis, as well as an extensive review of existing literature. With regard to data collection, the study involved field-based research including a household survey and in-depth interviews, and focus-group discussions with youth and stakeholders in the Maldives
What a Difference a State Makes: Health Reform in Andhra Pradesh
No full textIn the mid-2000s, India began rolling out large-scale, publicly-financed health insurance schemes mostly targeting the poor. This paper describes and analyzes Andhra Pradesh's Aarogyasri scheme, which covers against the costs of around 900 high-cost procedures delivered in secondary and tertiary hospitals. Using a new household survey, the authors find that 80 percent of families are eligible, equal to about 68 million people, and 85 percent of these families know they are covered; only one-quarter, however, know that the benefit package is limited. The study finds that, contrary to the rules of the program, patients incur quite large out-of-pocket payments during inpatient episodes thought to be covered by Aarogyasri. In the absence of data and program design features that would allow for a rigorous impact evaluation, a comparison is made between Andhra Pradesh and neighboring Maharashtra over an eight-year period spanning the scheme's introduction. During this period, Maharashtra did not introduce any at-scale health initiative that was not also introduced in Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh other health initiatives were considerably less ambitious and costly than Aarogyasri. The paper finds that Andhra Pradesh recorded faster growth than Maharashtra (even after adjusting for confounders) in inpatient admissions per capita (for all income groups) and in surgery admissions (among the poor only), slower growth in out-of-pocket payments for inpatient care (in total and per admission, but only among the better off), and slower growth in transport and outpatient out-of-pocket costs. The paper argues that these results are consistent with Aarogyasri having the intended effects, but also with minor health initiatives in Andhra Pradesh (especially the ambulance program) playing a role
From Post- to Pre-Elections: Are new polls the way forward in Bangladesh?
No full textBangladesh is in limbo. If one believes the observers and recognizes international statements, the country currently finds itself in between a post and a pre-election scenario. However, one thing is for sure, the deep political crisis that emerged in past months will continue in 2014. The enforced general elections on 5 January did not bring about a solution or any improvement at all