Abstract:
Lower middle-income country governments spend only $56 per capita on health while low-income country governments spend less than $10 per capita. However, budgetary space to increase these allocations is severely constrained by stagnant or low economic growth, limited capacity to mobilise revenue, and rising debt-service costs. In these circumstances, where it may be unrealistic to expect large funding increases for the health sector, what can a ministry of finance do to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of health spending? This paper suggests 10 areas that ministries of finance, ministries of health and their partners can explore to improve the quality of health spending across three themes: improved budgeting and prioritisation of health spending; improved budget execution and procurement; and stronger public financial management frameworks for health spending.