Targeting Health Programs to Reach the Poor

In principle, the efficiency of poverty-oriented social programs can be increased dramatically through “targeting” an infelicitous term applied to efforts to focus development programs more directly on the poor. By one widely-cited estimate, a set of “perfectly targeted”...

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Main Author: Gwatkin, Davidson R
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/152331520426041781/Targeting-health-programs-to-reach-the-poor
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29585
id okr-10986-29585
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-295852021-04-23T14:04:53Z Targeting Health Programs to Reach the Poor Gwatkin, Davidson R TARGETING HEALTH SERVICES POVERTY ALLEVIATION HEALTH CARE PROJECT DESIGN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE SERVICE DELIVERY LIVING STANDARDS MEASUREMENT IMMUNIZATION DISEASE CONTROL In principle, the efficiency of poverty-oriented social programs can be increased dramatically through “targeting” an infelicitous term applied to efforts to focus development programs more directly on the poor. By one widely-cited estimate, a set of “perfectly targeted” programs -- that is, programs whose benefits reach all the poor and only the poor -- could eliminate poverty at less than 10% the cost of development programs that do not discriminate between poor and rich. No knowledgeable advocate of targeting, no matter how enthusiastic, would claim that the maximum attainable gain from targeting comes anywhere close to the theoretical maximum referred to above. But a measure does not have to be ideal in order to be worthwhile, and this raises the possibility that targeting might still have much to offer. The purpose of what follows is to explore this possibility. 2018-04-02T17:10:24Z 2018-04-02T17:10:24Z 2000-02 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/152331520426041781/Targeting-health-programs-to-reach-the-poor http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29585 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Working Paper
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic TARGETING
HEALTH SERVICES
POVERTY ALLEVIATION
HEALTH CARE
PROJECT DESIGN
PRIMARY HEALTH CARE
PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE
SERVICE DELIVERY
LIVING STANDARDS MEASUREMENT
IMMUNIZATION
DISEASE CONTROL
spellingShingle TARGETING
HEALTH SERVICES
POVERTY ALLEVIATION
HEALTH CARE
PROJECT DESIGN
PRIMARY HEALTH CARE
PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE
SERVICE DELIVERY
LIVING STANDARDS MEASUREMENT
IMMUNIZATION
DISEASE CONTROL
Gwatkin, Davidson R
Targeting Health Programs to Reach the Poor
description In principle, the efficiency of poverty-oriented social programs can be increased dramatically through “targeting” an infelicitous term applied to efforts to focus development programs more directly on the poor. By one widely-cited estimate, a set of “perfectly targeted” programs -- that is, programs whose benefits reach all the poor and only the poor -- could eliminate poverty at less than 10% the cost of development programs that do not discriminate between poor and rich. No knowledgeable advocate of targeting, no matter how enthusiastic, would claim that the maximum attainable gain from targeting comes anywhere close to the theoretical maximum referred to above. But a measure does not have to be ideal in order to be worthwhile, and this raises the possibility that targeting might still have much to offer. The purpose of what follows is to explore this possibility.
format Working Paper
author Gwatkin, Davidson R
author_facet Gwatkin, Davidson R
author_sort Gwatkin, Davidson R
title Targeting Health Programs to Reach the Poor
title_short Targeting Health Programs to Reach the Poor
title_full Targeting Health Programs to Reach the Poor
title_fullStr Targeting Health Programs to Reach the Poor
title_full_unstemmed Targeting Health Programs to Reach the Poor
title_sort targeting health programs to reach the poor
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2018
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/152331520426041781/Targeting-health-programs-to-reach-the-poor
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29585
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