title: Design, content and financing of an essential national package of health services.
abstract: A minimum package of public health and clinical interventions, which are highly cost-effective and deal with major sources of disease burden, could be provided in low-income countries for about US$ 12 per person per year, and in middle-income countries for about $22. Properly delivered, this package could eliminate 21% to 38% of the burden of premature mortality and disability in children under 15 years and 10-18% of the burden in adults. The cost would exceed what governments now spend on health in the poorest countries but would be easily affordable in middle-income countries. Governments should ensure that, at the least, poor populations have access to these services. Additional public expenditure should then go either to extending coverage to the non-poor or to expansion beyond the minimum collection of services to an essential national package of health care, including somewhat less cost-effective interventions against a larger number of diseases and conditions.
authors.affiliation: Population, Health and Nutrition Department, World Bank, Washington, DC 20433.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Bobadilla
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cowley
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Musgrove
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Saxenian
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003906:Developing Countries; D005260:Female; D005381:Financing, Organized; D005102:Health Expenditures; D006285:Health Planning; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008297:Male; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000191:economics*; D011203:Poverty; D011634:Public Health