Healthcare Financing and Health Outcomes in Selected African Countries

Health outcomes in selected African countries remain poor despite various policy efforts and
international support, largely due to inadequate healthcare financing and uneven access to
medical services. This study examined the relationship between healthcare financing and health
outcomes in selected African countries from 2001 to 2022. The scope of the study covers
multiple countries across the region, focusing on healthcare financing, out-of-pocket
expenditure, and economic growth, with life expectancy serving as a proxy for health
outcomes. Using the Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) estimation technique,
alongside panel unit root and cointegration tests, the study establishes both short-run and long-
run relationships among the variables. The findings reveal that healthcare financing and out-
of-pocket expenditure significantly improve health outcomes in the long run, while economic
growth also contributes positively, albeit to a lesser extent. However, short-run effects are
statistically insignificant, indicating that improvements in health require sustained investment
over time. The study concludes that stable, long-term healthcare financing mechanisms are
crucial to enhancing population health in selected African countries. It therefore recommends
that governments prioritise increased public healthcare funding and strengthen national health
insurance schemes to reduce reliance on out-of-pocket payments and promote equitable access
to quality healthcare services across the region.