Determinants of public health spending in WAEMU area: An empirical investigation

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the determinants of government spending on health in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) area. To do this, we have collected panel data on which an autoregressive Distributed Lag model (ARDL) approach is applied at the end of econometric tests (Stationarity and Co-integration). As main results, population growth, use of mosquito nets, hospital beds, number of doctors, nurses - midwives, corruption scores and political stability are responsible for government spending. To be short, we can note that these determinants are both supply and demand factors. Thus, government action is not only political (ensuring political stability, good governance), but also medical (ensuring the professionalism of healthcare staff and raising awareness among the population about the use of Treated Mosquito nets with limited duration of action).