Benefit incidence of public health spending for public and faith-inspired health facilities in Ghana

Coulombe, Harold and Wodon, Quentin (2012): Benefit incidence of public health spending for public and faith-inspired health facilities in Ghana.

Abstract

This paper uses the fifth round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey collected in 2005-2006 to conduct a benefit incidence analysis of public spending for health. District-level financial data on public transfers are combined with household survey data on the use of various types of facilities by the population to assess whether public health spending reaches equally various segments of the population. The estimates of benefit incidence are presented separately for public and faith-inspired facilities, given that the later also benefit from public funding. The analysis suggests substantial variation in transfers and unit costs by districts, with higher costs in areas with the lowest and highest poverty measures, and lower costs in-between. Public health funding is also found to be regressive, in large part because hospitals and clinics still benefited the better off more than the poor, whether they are operated by the government or faith-inspired providers.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Health; Faith; Benefit Incidence; Private Provision; Ghana; Christian Health Association
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I11 - Analysis of Health Care Markets; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I14 - Health and Inequality; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I18 - Government Policy ; Regulation ; Public Health

References

Castro-Leal, F., J. Dayton, L. Demery, and K. Mehra. 1999. “Public Social Spending in Africa: Do the Poor Benefit?.” World Bank Research Observer 14(1): 49-72.

Canagarajah, S., and X. Ye. 2001. “Health and Education Spending in Ghana in 1992-98.” Policy Research Working Paper 2579, World Bank, Washington, DC.

Demery, L., S. Chao, R. Bernier, and K. Mehra. 1995. “The Incidence of Social Spending in Ghana.” World Bank PSP Discussion Paper Series, Washington DC.

Demery, L. 2003. “Benefit Incidence Analysis.” In F Bourguignon and L Pereira da Silva (eds.), The impact of economic policies on poverty and income distribution: evaluation techniques and tools. World Bank, Washington, DC.

Makinen, M., S. Sealy, R. A. Bitran, S. Adjei, and R. Munoz. 2011. Private Health Sector Assessment in Ghana. World Bank, Washington, DC.

Nyonator, F., and J. Kutzin. 1999. “Health for Some? The Effects of User Fees in the Volta Region of Ghana.” Health Policy and Planning 14 (4):329-41.

Salisu, A., and V. Prinz. 2009. Healthcare in Ghana. Wien: Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation, and Austrian Red Cross.

Shojo, M., C. Tsimpo, and Q. Wodon. 2012. “Satisfaction with and Reasons for Choosing Faith-Inspired Health Care Provision in Ghana.” In J. Olivier and Q. Wodon, eds, The Comparative Nature of Faith-inspired Health Care Providers in sub-Saharan Africa, World Bank, Washington, DC.

Wodon, Q. 2013. Faith and Human Development: Education and Health Services in Africa, New York: Palgrave MacMillan.