Health

Social services

News

Spring meetings descend into chaos

The credibility of the World Bank is in tatters, as accusations of nepotism and religious intolerance of family planning have engulfed the institution. Read on for updates on the official and unofficial meetings that took place in Washington around the 2007 spring meetings.

16 April 2007

Land

News

Parliamentarians on World Bank

The seventh annual conference of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank was held in Cape Town in March.

2 April 2007

Conditionality

News

IMF wants tax on mosquito nets in Zambia

The IMF provoked public ire in Zambia by asking the government to remove value added tax exemptions on a range of goods, including mosquito nets used to fight malaria.

31 January 2007

Social services

Commentary

Huge gaps in the World Bank's Gender Action Plan

The World Bank's new Gender Action Plan (GAP), aptly named Gender equality as smart economics, is tightly framed in the Bank's economic policy framework.

31 January 2007 | Guest comment

Social services

Background

The World Bank and disability

The Bank’s formal commitment to disability work began in June 2002 with the founding of the disability and development team within the social protection unit of the human development vice-presidency. The team’s primary focus is on cooperating at the international level on including the disabled in development.

23 November 2006 | Inside the institutions

Social services

Background

The World Bank and youth

World Bank and its work on youth

11 September 2006 | Inside the institutions

Social services

Background

The World Bank and ageing

The who, what, where and how much of the World Bank's work with the aged and pension reform.

19 June 2006 | Inside the institutions

Social services

News

Malaria experts say World Bank published false statistics, approved deadly treatments

A group of public health experts has called for an independent investigation into the World Bank's publication of "false epidemiological statistics", approval of "obsolete treatments" for a deadly strain of malaria, and failure to uphold its pledges for funding malaria control.

19 June 2006

Conditionality

News

Inflexibility on aid scale up haunts IMF fiscal conditions

The rigidity of Fund programmes is causing chafing at the collar in governments and civil society organisations in low-income countries, as the debate over the scaling up of aid rages.

19 June 2006

Social services

News

Donors fail to ante up for Bank bird flu efforts

According to a June Bank report, a mere $286 million out of the originally pledged $1.9 billion has been committed for avian flu preparedness.

19 June 2006