Guaranteeing the right to health care under equal conditions for all is a goal that every society desires to achieve, particularly in a region as unequal as Latin America and the Caribbean. Universal coverage is an important objective for most countries; however, the context for attaining universal coverage is difficult, as the pressure on health spending mounts with each passing day. So, what to leave in or out of a health benefit plan?

Jobs are essential for the growth of individuals and countries alike. Achieving personal fulfillment is harder without a job, just as an economy as a whole cannot develop without the impetus of the labor market. These two perspectives unquestionably go hand in hand: from the individual perspective, finding a good job is a legitimate aspiration for anyone who wishes to support oneself and one's family; from the societal perspective, creating more and better jobs is essential to the achievement of lasting and equitable growth. Jobs for Growth rests on this dual vision.

This toolkit is designed to be a resource for researchers and technical staff of any discipline, working for governments and institutions interested in measuring and monitoring the quality of child care centers serving infants ages 0 to 3 years (36 months).

Investments in education across countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have transformed the lives of millions of girls and the prospects of their families and societies. Unleashing the full economic potential of women is nevertheless still a curtailed issue in the region: just about half of women are unable to participate in paid work. The majority of the population out of the labor market is women between the ages of 24 and 45. This is the largest share of the available pool of unused human capital countries have, and where mothers of young children are concentrated.

Twenty years have passed since conditional cash transfer programs were first implemented in Latin America and the Caribbean. This book takes the opportunity to critically review the design options and operational solutions employed by the countries in the region, with the goal of systematizing this accumulated operational knowledge and identifying both good practices and remaining challenges. It addresses the major processes of the operational cycle: beneficiary identification and management of the rosters of beneficiaries, verification of conditionalities, and payment of transfers.

Most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) seek to reform their health systems so they can achieve universal coverage and improve health expenditure efficiency, while meeting citizens’ ever-growing expectations about the quality of care. The role of primary health care (PHC) stands out as key to achieving these objectives in an integrated manner.

The early twenty-first century has witnessed an explosion of technological changes that have revolutionized the way we travel, shop, interact and play. Technology can also transform education by boosting motivation, personalizing instruction, facilitating teamwork, enabling feedback, and allowing real-time monitoring. However, a gap exists between the potential impact of technology and the actual results of public initiatives.

Integrated Health Service Delivery Networks (IHSDN) based on primary health care (PHC) are the most promising solution for health systems to satisfy the health needs of the population and to address access, efficiency, quality and equity challenges faced by health systems of the world. PHCs essential attributes (people and family centered care, comprehensiveness, continuity, longitudinality) position this approach as one of the key strategies for countries to meet the aspiration of achieving universal health coverage.