Programs that aim to protect and improve the health of people below and just above the poverty line in developing countries can greatly help in the battle against global poverty. The links between health and poverty reduction have been strongly confirmed in recent research on the determinants of economic growth in developing countries. The international community has agreed upon three Millennium Development Goals that call for health improvements by 2015: (1) reducing child deaths; (2) lowering maternal mortality; and (3) stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. To meet this challenge, developing countries, supported by OECD countries and their development agencies, need to take a pro-poor health approach.
