In 1999, the World Bank Institute launched a major learning program for Bank client countries and Bank staff on population, reproductive health, and health sector reform. It aims to complement the Bank ' s lending activities for population and reproductive health by providing information about options, interventions, and best practices to advance the reproductive health agenda in countries undergoing reform. An important part of the learning program is to identify sector-wide changes in health systems that are required to combat deeply entrenched, systemic performance problems that currently undermine desired reproductive health outcomes. New skills will be required including knowledge about how different forms of financing, provider payments, organizational arrangements, regulation, and ways of promoting healthy behaviors can be brought to bear to improve reproductive health. This report aims to 1) explain why health sector reform prevails in many countries and why reproductive health advocates cannot ignore it; 2) propose a diagnostic approach for " thinking about " reproductive health that links undesirable outcomes to their causes, as well as five categories of health reform interventions or " levers " that can be employed to remedy them ' 3) illustrate the application of the reform categories or " levers " in countries where a concerted effort is underway to improve reproductive health outcomes; and d) contribute to a common language and understanding of reform options.
(With permission from the World Bank Group)
