The global economic slowdown and donor countries’ differing views on what to do about it, pushed issues related to the world’s poorest nations to the sidelines of public debate on this year’s spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank.
Health
Social services
Analysis
New World Bank/WHO trust fund for health: risks of misuse
Washington, DC, 26 April, 2001 - Italy and UK are taking the lead among G7 partners to set up a global trust fund of $1 billion to provide cheaper drugs for poor countries.
WB/IMF roles
News
G8 strategy attacked as too pro-Bank
Franck Almaric of the Society for International Development has sharply criticised the Italian government’s draft strategy for the G8 summit.
Social services
Analysis
The World Bank’s global public goods agenda: good for whom?
Prepared for the World Bank-IMF Spring meetings 2001, a short analysis of the World Bank’s understanding of the global public goods and which areas it plans to concentrate on.
Finance
News
Health policy attacked
The People’s Health Conference 2000 criticized the World Bank’s health policies for being “anti-Third World”.
Conditionality
News
US rejects user fees
The US government has been forced to adopt legislation requiring it to oppose IMF and WB loans, which contain conditions for the imposition of user fees for primary education or primary health care.
Social services
News
Bank announces major AIDS funding
The World Bank announced in early July that it is to make available $500 million in loans to help countries combat the growing threat of AIDS.
Finance
News
Oxfam report on poverty targets
Missing the Target reviews progress towards the international development targets for 2015, highlighting the danger that none of the targets will be met.
Conditionality
News
US Congress rules against user fees
In July, the United States Congress passed legislation aiming to bar the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank from imposing “user fees” on primary health care and education on poor countries.
Social services
News
India Health Review Queried
A short report Inspection or Eyewash? discusses the visit of World Bank officials to hospitals of the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) on 8 May.
Featured briefings
1 October 2024
Year one of World Bank Paris Agreement alignment in the energy sector: ‘green conditionality’ dwarfs green investments
New BWP research finds the Word Bank's approach to Paris alignment is being used to a significant extent to impose ‘green conditionalities' on borrowing countries, especially in the Global South.
3 July 2024
The Bretton Woods Observer: Summer 2024
3 July 2024
Is the World Bank rolling back commitments to citizen engagement, again?
Understanding the Bank’s chequered history with public, community and civil society participation is key for understanding what is at stake and what to do next.