World Bank Seminar, May 1999.
Poor-rich health inequalities are much greater in the developing than in the developed world, but much less action is being taken to reduce them. For example, a child born into Brazil's poorest 20% of families is over six times more likely to die before reaching his or her first birthday, compared with one and a half to two times in the typical European country. Similar -- though less stark -- inequalities emerge in other developing countries. This is one of the findings emerging from recent work by Visiting Research Fellow Adam Wagstaff with household data sets from nine developing countries: Brazil, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nepal, Nicaragua, Pakistan, The Philippines (Cebu), South Africa, and Vietnam. Adam presented this and other findings on inequalities; introduced numerical measures and graphical devices for comparing these differences across countries; and reported on what causes the differences. His presentation included the results of simulation exercises designed to demonstrate how far the inequalities might be reduces if policy makers were to lessen inequalities in such determinants as mother's education, access to health care, drinking water, and sanitation.
