AN ANALYSIS OF EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF PUBLIC SPENDING ON HEALTH SECTOR IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN (SSA) COUNTRIES

Badayi M. Sani; Ibrahim Iliyasu

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Published: 31-05-2025

Keywords:

Efficiency, Effectiveness, Public health spending, JEL Classification: C14, C34, H51

Badayi M. Sani

Department of Economics, Bayero University, Kano, Kano State, Nigeria.

Ibrahim Iliyasu

Department of Economics, Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, Katsina, Katsina State, Nigeria.

Abstract

This paper examined the efficiency and effectiveness of public health spending in a sample of 46 SSA countries over 2000-2010 and 2011-2022 periods. The study employed Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Tobit regression, Simar-Wilson Bootstrap (algorithm #1) and cross-sectional regression. The main results revealed that: (i) average SSA countries public health spending efficiency scores were 0.857 and 0.900 in the two periods. (ii) Cape Verde and Seychelles were consistently efficient and (iii) average public health spending efficiency scores were virtually the same across income level, resource abundance, conflict and fragile as well as colonial legacy countries groupings. The study argued that the region could have achieved about 14% and 10% more additional health outcomes while using same amount of resources. The study, therefore, suggested that better public health care outcomes could be achieved in SSA by improving health sector regulatory framework, guided urbanization growth as well as strengthening HIV-AIDS, malaria and obesity control effort.

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2025): May 2025

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Author Biography

Ibrahim Iliyasu, Department of Economics, Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, Katsina, Katsina State, Nigeria.

This paper examined the efficiency and effectiveness of public health spending in a sample of 46 SSA countries over 2000-2010 and 2011-2022 periods. The study employed Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Tobit regression, Simar-Wilson Bootstrap (algorithm #1) and cross-sectional regression. The main results revealed that: (i) average SSA countries public health spending efficiency scores were 0.857 and 0.900 in the two periods. (ii) Cape Verde and Seychelles were consistently efficient and (iii) average public health spending efficiency scores were virtually the same across income level, resource abundance, conflict and fragile as well as colonial legacy countries groupings. The study argued that the region could have achieved about 14% and 10% more additional health outcomes while using same amount of resources. The study, therefore, suggested that better public health care outcomes could be achieved in SSA by improving health sector regulatory framework, guided urbanization growth as well as strengthening HIV-AIDS, malaria and obesity control effort.

How to Cite

AN ANALYSIS OF EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF PUBLIC SPENDING ON HEALTH SECTOR IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN (SSA) COUNTRIES. (2025). JOS JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES , 2(1), 1-24. http://journals.unijos.edu.ng/index.php/jjss/article/view/842

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