Comparative Life Expectancy in Africa
For health outcomes, is poverty destiny? The authors explore this question for life expectancy in Africa, where health outcomes are positively correlated with income, but where the link is far from uniform. The key variables associated with good he...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2001/08/1561504/comparative-life-expectancy-africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19558 |
| Summary: | For health outcomes, is poverty destiny?
The authors explore this question for life expectancy in
Africa, where health outcomes are positively correlated with
income, but where the link is far from uniform. The key
variables associated with good health outcomes (controlling
for health expenditures) are access rates - to health
services, to clean water and sanitation, and to education,
particularly for women. Health expenditure, either as
percentage of GNP or per capita, is not a good predictor of
health outcomes (endogeneity aside). The tenuous link among
health expenditures, health service outputs, and health
outcomes suggests marked differences in the mapping from
spending to services and from services to outcomes. While
few conclusions can be drawn on the aggregate level, the
patterns raise questions about what share of public
expenditure should be devoted to preventive as opposed to
curative measures, and the relative importance of sanitation
infrastructure versus traditional health care. |
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