Health expenditures and child health outcomes in SADC Region

Elvis Munyaradzi Ganyaupfu, John Snow, Inc.

This study examines the effects of health expenditures on child health outcomes in SADC region during the period 2005 to 2013. Country-level panel data for 14 countries obtained from World Bank was used for analysis. Under 5 mortality rate (U5MR) was used as the outcome variable; while total health expenditure and health expenditure per capita were used as primary covariates. Based on the panel robust Maximum Likelihood (ML) Mixed-Effects linear regression method in STATA 12, estimated results provide empirical evidence that total health expenditure and health expenditure per capita have significant effects in reducing U5MR in SADC region. The elasticity estimates reveal that total health expenditure has a more significant effect in reducing U5MR relative to health expenditure per capita. The Wald chi2(3) statistic (= 91.87; Prob > chi2 = 0.0000) reveal significance of the model. Overall, health expenditures are indeed important contributors to child health outcomes in the region.