On June 15th and 17th, 2009, the Health and Growth volume was launched in Brazil - Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, and San Paolo, respectively. Prominent policy makers, such as former President of Brazil, Dr. Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Commission Vice-Chair and the World Bank Adviser Danny Leipziger, Commissioner Edmar Bacha, as well as book editor Maureen Lewis, participated in the launch. In both cities the audience of about 150 spanned academia, government and the private sector.   Discussion in both focused on measuring health and the link to growth, and on institutions.  Concerns over equity, funding tradeoffs, and the effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery dominated much of the discussion.  If early childhood development is so critical to child and adult health, and budgets are flat, where should cuts be made, and who decides?  Where economic benefits can be reaped from investments in health care services, issues of who pays across levels of government, and the role of patient contribution, were raised in the context of sustainable financing needs, an important next step in extending the results to policy.

 The details on launch events, including the documents are available below. 

*Please note, that most of information below is provided in Brasilian Portuguese.