Poverty Reduction: Does Reproductive Health Matter?

Tom Merrick, World Bank Group
Margaret Greene, George Washington University

Although common sense suggests that poor reproductive health outcomes adversely affect the chances of poor women and their families to escape poverty, the evidence base to support this argument at the household level is thin. Disease advocates have done a much better job than their reproductive health counterparts in demonstrating the links between poor health and poverty, the emphasis of current funding priorities. This paper reviews and assesses existing research on the links between reproductive health outcomes — adolescent pregnancy, unintended pregnancy including abortion, high and excess fertility, and poorly managed obstetric complications — and poverty, particularly at the individual and household levels. We examine the specific causal mechanisms — education, productivity and earnings, household savings and income, and health feedbacks — linking each outcome to poverty. This evidence on the reproductive health-poverty linkages could be used to direct resources toward poor women to improve their reproductive health and help them and their families escape poverty.