Since then, gains in basic indicators of health and wellbeing, including maternal and child mortality and literacy, have been among the steepest ever seen, largely because of the empowerment of poor women.
Only 38 developing countries, for example, had data on whether malnutrition rates among children were rising or falling – a basic indicator of child health and well-being.
The research team gathered evidence on seven basic indicators of chronic physical conditions that can be detected in skeletons -- namely, degenerative joint disease, dental health, stature, anemia, arrested tissue development, infections and trauma from injuries.
"If you look at the basic indicators of Sri Lanka today, despite the – as I said – very difficult history of the last 30-odd years, Sri Lanka has clearly some of the best child health indicators in their region," he continued.
"Conventional government-funded science isn't a reliable indicator of health defects," she told me.
The precondition is the availability of a basic set of reliable, valid, meaningful and timely indicators of health system structures, processes and outcomes on macro (governance and financing), meso (organizational) and micro (clinical delivery) governance levels.
