Executive summary * Introduction * Analytical context * Global health from three perspectives * First principles: equity and human rights * The health systems crisis in historical context * Evidence and the challenge of scaling up * Health status and key interventions * Connecting maternal health and child health * Child health * Adolescent health * Sexual and reproductive health * Conflict-affected and displaced populations * Maternal mortality and morbidity * Transforming health systems * Market-based approaches to healthcare: a critique * Defining health systems * Thinking about health systems * Taking redistribution seriously * Healthcare financing * Organizing the health system * Health management * A health workforce to meet the Millennium Development Goals * Monitoring Goals 4 and 5: targets and indicators * What lies behind the averages? Monitoring equity * Goal 4: Child health, neonatal mortality and nutrition * Goal 5: Improving maternal health * Monitoring health systems * Monitoring the Goals: the role of health information * Global policy and funding frameworks * Influence of international financial institutions * Debt relief, poverty reduction, and public expenditure management * Poverty reduction loans and poverty and social impact assessments * Donor coordination and harmonization * Sectorwide approaches need to be promoted * Other global initiatives' impact on the health sector * Conclusions and recommendations *