Reproductive Health Economic Growth And Poverty Reduction In Africa

This volume contains framework papers prepared for a collaborative research project on Reproductive Health, Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction in Africa, an initiative of the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC). Taken together, the chapters in this book make a compelling argument that improvement in reproductive health is key to raising household incomes and to reducing poverty. the books reveals that the triple phenomena of better reproductive health, economic growth, and declining poverty, are likely to be found in an environment in which labour and product markets function. Further, a macroeconomic framework that encourages domestic and foreign investments and promotes social protection for current and future generations is essential.

"While women in developing countries continue to die in large numbers in child birth, Population and Reproductive Health specialists and advocates around the world are struggling to keep the policy agenda focused on the rights and needs of poor women. The 1994 Cairo Conference and Program of Action changed how we do business, and opened many doors, but the agenda is not complete and has stalled in a number of ways. At the country level, governments and donors are making difficult choices about how and where to allocate scarce human and financial resources. Funding approaches have moved away from the implementation of narrowly directed health programs to a broader approach of health system development and reform. At the same time, countries are also centering their development agenda on the broad goal of poverty reduction. This volume addresses a large knowledge and capacity gap in the Reproductive Health community and provides tools for key actors to empower faster positive change. It is a synopsis of the materials developed for WBI's learning program on Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Poverty Reduction, Reproductive Health and Health Sector Reform. The volume brings together knowledge about epidemiology, demography, economics, and trends in global financial assistance. The volume also introduces practical tools such as benefit incidence analysis, costing, and stakeholder analysis to strengthen the evidence base for policy and to address the political economy factors for reform."

Abstract: This paper reviews empirical findings from economic analyses of the role of gender equality and women's empowerment in reducing poverty and stimulating growth. Going beyond the large literature documenting the impact of female education on a range of development outcomes, the paper presents evidence on the impact of women's access to markets (labor, land, and credit) and women's decision-making power within households on poverty reduction and productivity at the individual and household level. The paper also summarizes evidence from studies examining the relationship between gender equality and poverty reduction and growth at the macro level. Although micro level effects of gender equality on individual productivity and human development outcomes have been well documented and have important ramifications for aggregate economic performance, establishing an empirical relationship between gender equality and poverty reduction and growth at the macro level has proven to be more challenging. The paper concludes by identifying priority areas for future research.

This note focuses on the core findings, and recommendations of the 1998 status report on poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), prepared for the Special Program for Assistance for Africa (SPA), a thematic examination of the linkages between gender, growth, and poverty reduction in SSA. Primarily focused on agriculture, and the rural sector, the report argues that one of the factors constraining growth, and poverty in SSA is gender inequality in the access to, and control of a diverse range of assets. The note reviews the determinants of growth, and the interdependence of the market, and household economies, where much of women's productive work is unrecorded, (in Kenya, about sixty percent of female activities are unaccounted for, compared with only twenty four percent of male activities). Furthermore, micro-level analyses portray a consistent picture of gender-based asset inequality, pointing at patterns of disadvantage faced by women, in accessing the basic assets, and resources required for a full participation in SSA's growth potential. In education, although girls have made rapid strides in completing primary education, lowering the gender gap, differentials persist due to social, and cultural factors; and, in health, an enormous gender differential in the region's sexual, and reproductive burden of disease, is observed, as measured by deaths, and disability-adjusted life years. Recommendations include women's budget initiatives, sustained investments in education/health, and, raising the visibility of domestic work in national statistics.

Sub-Saharan Africa's turnaround over the past couple of decades has been dramatic. After many years in decline, the continent's economy picked up in the mid-1990s. Along with this macroeconomic growth, people became healthier, many more youngsters attended schools, and the rate of extreme poverty declined from 54 percent in 1990 to 41 percent in 2015. Political and social freedoms expanded, and gender equality advanced. Conflict in the region also subsided, although it still claims thousands of civilian lives in some countries and still drives pressing numbers of displaced persons. Despite Africa’s widespread economic and social welfare accomplishments, the region’s challenges remain daunting: Economic growth has slowed in recent years. Poverty rates in many countries are the highest in the world. And notably, the number of poor in Africa is rising because of population growth. From a global perspective, the biggest concentration of poverty has shifted from South Asia to Africa. Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa explores critical policy entry points to address the demographic, societal, and political drivers of poverty; improve income-earning opportunities both on and off the farm; and better mobilize resources for the poor. It looks beyond macroeconomic stability and growth—critical yet insufficient components of these objectives—to ask what more could be done and where policy makers should focus their attention to speed up poverty reduction. The pro-poor policy agenda advanced in this volume requires not only economic growth where the poor work and live, but also mitigation of the many risks to which African households are exposed. As such, this report takes a "jobs" lens to its task. It focuses squarely on the productivity and livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable—that is, what it will take to increase their earnings. Finally, it presents a road map for financing the poverty and development agenda.

Investment in health is a strategically important and often underestimated component of economic development. This study sets out a systematic approach to improving health in poor countries. For emerging countries, substantially improved health outcomes are a prerequisite to breaking out of the poverty cycle. This book on poverty and health, jointly published by the OECD and WHO, sets out the essential components of a broad-scope "pro-poor" health approach for action within the health system and beyond it. It is for development practitioners in the area of health issues.

Annotation Comparison between Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and East Asia indicates that gender inequality in education and employment is estimated to have reduced SSA's per capita growth in the 1960-92 period by 0.8 percentage points per year. Therefore reducing gender-based asset inequality in SSA is an important development goal. This report documents the structural role of men and women in African economies and examines the linkages between the market and the household. It makes a convincing case that reducing gender inequality would increase growth, efficiency, and welfare. The authors make key recommendations for public policy intervention in the areas of participation, investment in the household economy, investment in human capital, support for rural livelihood strategies, and engendering statistics and poverty monitoring.