The genesis of this book was a World Bank Institute course that was developed
in 1998 as a response to the International Conference on Population
and Development (ICPD), held in Cairo in 1994 and commonly referred to
as the “Cairo conference” thereafter. The course—then titled “Adapting to
Change” and retitled “Achieving the MDGs: Reproductive Health,
Poverty Reduction, and Health Sector Reform” in 2002—was developed
collaboratively by the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO),
the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Joint United Nations
Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and technical staff from other agencies.
The course and the learning program that followed—including its
adaptation to Africa, Latin America, and South Asia—received financial
support from the World Bank Institute and from the governments of the
Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland,
Ireland, Canada, and the United States of America, as well as from
the Hewlett Foundation, the Packard Foundation, and the Rockefeller
Foundation. The authors thank the technical and funding partners for their
support.