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This paper explores the role of basic pensions in reducing poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, drawing evidence from the latest Senegalese household expenditure survey. The paper also analyzes the fiscal costs of basic pensions and shows that these are fiscally affordable as long as pension levels are reasonable. […]

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Health issues have been a consistent item on the agenda of African government meetings since 2001. Paradoxically, inequalities in health persist, with reproductive health in particular described as a “continental state of emergency” by ministers of health as they moved actions in october 2005 at the 2nd ordinary Session of the Conference of African Ministers of Health in Gaborone, Botswana, and adopted a “Continental policy Framework on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR).” The Continental Policy Framework called for prioritizing and improving access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and services by strengthening the health sector through increased allocation of resources to health. The African Union (AU) Health Ministers further called for the development of a concrete and costed plan of action for implementing the framework. This culminated in the drafting of The Maputo Plan of Action (MPoA) for the operationalization of the Continental Policy Framework for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (MPoA), which was endorsed by the summit of the African Union Heads of State and Government in January 2007 to serve as a short-term plan of action for the period 2007 to 2010. […]

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Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa with an estimated 77 million people, whose median age is 18 years, and 43 percent of whom are below 14 years of age. With a population growth rate of 2.5 percent, Ethiopia is one of the fastest growing populations in the world and will exceed 150 million people by 2040 (UN 2007). Following the recognition that the country’s population and reproductive health indicators were neither optimistic nor consistent with national aspirations for food security, universal primary education, increased access to health services, extended employment opportunities and overall economic development goals, the Ethiopian Government adopted a population policy in 1993, to harmonize the country’s population growth rate with its national economic development agenda. In furtherance of these goals, the government established the National Office of Population (NOP) with the responsibility of coordinating institutions and ministries involved in population activities and launched the Health Sector Development Program (HSDP) and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Program (PRSP). […]

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