Health care expenditure and infant mortality in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

The paper examines the impact of public health expenditure on under-five and infant mortality rates in 10 selected sub-Saharan African countries for the period 2000–2008. The results show that government health expenditure has a positive effect on under-five and infant mortality. However, the results show GDP per capita, health aid, hiv prevalence and immunization have significant negative effects on under-five and infant mortality. The results clearly suggest that health care expenditures have not been translated to improvement in under-five mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. The results possibly reflect the high level of corruption and fungibility of public health expenditure in sub-Saharan Africa countries.