Learning Curves: ADB's Policy for the Health Sector

Abstract

The Asia and Pacific region is home to 690 million people living on incomes of less than $1 per day. They account for more than two thirds of the worldʹs poor. Most live in areas where health services are inadequate or nonexistent. Poverty leads to poor nutrition and inadequate access to health care, which cause health to deteriorate. In turn, poor health prevents the poor from being productive members of society. This is a vicious cycle of impoverishment. Health is also a key input to economic development: good health enhances the productivity of the workforce and increases the attractiveness of the economy to domestic and foreign investors. The Millennium Development Goals emphasize the many dimensions of poverty and explicitly recognize that health interventions can reduce poverty. ADBʹs Policy for the Health Sector, approved in 1999, aims to provide direction to ADBʹs operations, inform developing member countries about ADBʹs priorities, and assist them to identify priorities and strategies for achieving them.