Total health expenditure versus public health expenditure and health outcomes in West Africa
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18559/rielf.2024.1.1638Keywords:
total health expenditure, public health expenditure, infant and child mortality, West AfricaAbstract
The aim of this work is to establish a link between total health expenditure per capita, public health expenditure and two health outcomes, namely infant mortality and under-five mortality. This relationship is examined using data from 15 ECOWAS countries plus Mauritania between 1995 and 2014. Panel specifications; in robust OLS and fixed effects were used for the need for robustness and to take into account country specificity. The results show that health spending has a statistically significant effect on infant mortality and under-five mortality. The magnitude of our elasticity estimates is consistent with those reported in most studies. For West African countries, our results imply that total health expenditure (as well as the public component) certainly contributes significantly to the reduction of infant mortality and mortality of children under five years. These results have important implications for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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