How much would poor people gain from faster progress towards the Millennium Development Goals for health?

Abstract

The health objectives set out in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) do not share the focus on poor people that typifies the MDGs overall. Rather, they call for improvements in national averages that can be achieved through gains in both advantaged and disadvantaged groups. As a result, any reduction in society-wide average rates of death or illness can provide a wide range of outcomes for poor people. Since expanded health services typically reach better-off groups before disadvantaged ones, poor people are unlikely to be the principal beneficiaries of efforts to accelerate progress towards the MDGs by providing additional resources to the health sector, as presently constituted.