Attacking Inequality in the Health Sector

A breakthrough in measuring inequalities in health has shattered myths about the effectiveness of health systems in helping the poor. The resulting evidence on outcome inequality is overwhelming. Children from poor families from over 50 low- and middle-income countries suffer malnutrition and die at much higher rates than children from better-off families. Fertility rates for poor women far outpace those of better-off women. The most jarring finding, however, is not that the poor suffer more, bu