Opium eradication efforts are failing and drug industry threatens to derail Afghanistan's state building. The opium economy is a massive source of corruption and gravely undermines the credibility of the government and its local representatives.
Report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Bank. Editors: William Byrd, Advisor, South Asia Poverty Reduction Unit and Doris Buddenberg, UNODC Country Representative for Afghanistan.
Recent growth means there is extra money and more political will to tackle key obstacles to eradicating poverty in South Asia. The region faces an unprecedented opportunity: a chance of ending poverty in a generation.
Authors: Shantayanan Devarajan, World Bank Chief Economist for the South Asia region; Shekhar Shah, Economic Advisor in the World Bank’s South Asia Region
India's recent growth performance has been spectacular and the country remains one of the fastest growing economies in the world. But these achievements have created new challenges, among them improving the delivery of core public services, and spreading the benefits of growth more widely.
Authors: Lant Pritchett, lead socio-economist, South Asia Social Development Unit, Rinku Murgai, senior economist South Asia Poverty Reduction Unit, Marina Wes, senior economist, South Asia Poverty Reduction Unit
South Asia's HIV and AIDS epidemic can be expected to grow rapidly unless the countries in the region, especially India, can saturate high-risk groups with better HIV prevention measures.
Authors: Mariam Claeson, World Bank HIV/AIDS coordinator for the South Asia region
The prevalence of underweight children in India is among the highest in the world, and is nearly double that of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Authors: Michele Gragnolati, senior economist, Human Development, Meera Shekar, senior nutrition specialist, Human Development, Monica Das Gupta, senior social scientist, Development Research Group, Caryn Bredenkamp, World Bank consultant, and Yi-Kyoung Lee, health specialist
The Bank's Country Gender Assessment finds overall concern about security and reputation is restricting women's movement outside the home and limiting their access to education, medical care, opportunities for paid work, voting and other forms of political and community participation.
Authors: Tara Vishwanath, lead economist, South Asia Poverty Reduction Unit
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