INTRODUCTION The Democratic Republic of the Congo is today one of the poorest countries in the world; the health status of the population ranks among the worst in Sub-Saharan Africa. Public health services charge user fees and drug prices. Since 2008, north-eastern Congo is facing a guerrilla war. Malteser International is assisting with free health care for internally displaced persons as well...

F or nearly a century, federal and state gasoline and diesel taxes have provided the main source of revenue for funding the nation’s road network. But such taxes—typically levied on a cents-per-gallon basis—must be raised periodically to keep pace with inflation and improved fuel economy. With the rise in antitax sentiment over the past several decades, elected officials have grown increasingly...

BACKGROUND In 2006, the Parliament of Burkina Faso passed a policy to reduce the direct costs of obstetric services and neonatal care in the country's health centres, aiming to lower the country's high national maternal mortality and morbidity rates. Implementation was via a "partial exemption" covering 80% of the costs. In 2008 the German NGO HELP launched a pilot project in two health distric...

User fees exemption policy supported by NGOs in Burkina Faso and Niger resulted in a higher utilization of health services in primary health care facilities. We conducted a survey in 2 health districts in Burkina Faso and Niger in 2011. The study objective was to assess whether the higher utilization associated with the user fees exemption policy, may result in an overload for health staff at t...

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Approximately 85% of the water consumed in Chile is destined to agricultural irrigation and is managed by the users themselves. This study analyzed the price that irrigation water users pay to their Water User Associations (WUAs) to which they belong and the relationship of this price to the professional level and performance of the WUAs. The study included 24 WUAs: 10 River Administration Boar...