World Bank money for health may not be effective

Report today released by an independent evaluation group suggests that World Bank investments in health since 1997 may not be as effective as investments in other portfolios. HIV investments in particular seem to have gone awry with only 25% of HIV programs in Africa making the grade compared with the 80% alleged success rate of all other World Bank dollars across other programs. Conclusion: World Bank's M&E programs are weak, the World Bank should simplify its goals (health is "complex"), reduce the number of public sector programs that it funds, and reduce its expectations. I guess it's better to have your evaluations look better than to have outcome for patients look better. The World Bank, with its now tripled health budget of $3billion, must be able to do better than this...