IN 1990, the nations of the world spent $1.7 trillion, 8% of the total world product, on health services. But in terms of improved health they did not get as much value from this expenditure as they might have.
This is the conclusion of the 1993 annual report from the World Bank, Washington, DC. Entitled Investing in Health, the report was prepared by a team headed by Dean T. Jamison, PhD, UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, Calif.
The World Bank's annual reports, issued every July, are major statements on international development policy. In the past, they have been devoted to such macroeconomic topics as debt, poverty, and the environment. This year's is the first World Bank annual report ever to be devoted to health. Its 120 000 copies, printed in eight languages, are very widely distributed, sent to the ministers of finance and central banks of every nation