Namibia Health Sector Public Expenditure Review
This Public Expenditure Review (PER) is the first for Namibia’s health sector. Namibia is an upper-middle income country that has made major progress in improving the standard of living for its population and reducing poverty. Still, with one of th...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/268141563376806867/Namibia-Health-Sector-Public-Expenditure-Review http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32111 |
| Summary: | This Public Expenditure Review (PER) is
the first for Namibia’s health sector. Namibia is an
upper-middle income country that has made major progress in
improving the standard of living for its population and
reducing poverty. Still, with one of the highest Gini
coefficients in the world, the society is highly unequal. In
addition, the size of Namibia, combined with a low
population density, makes it challenging for the health
sector to provide universal access to quality health
services across the country. The recent economic downturn
has put fiscal pressure on the government and heightened the
need for spending efficiency. Although government spending
on health has been consistently close to the Abuja target of
15 percent, health outcomes are poor. The country faces a
double burden of both communicable and non-communicable
disease (NCDs), with high HIV/AIDS, stunting and maternal
mortality rates that predominately affect the poor, and an
increasing prevalence in non-communicable diseases that will
contribute to costly treatments and growing health
expenditures in the future. The Namibian government is
committed to improve health outcomes. Namibia’s 5th National
Development Plan (NDP5) for 2017-2022 aims to provide access
to quality health care for its population, to increase
Health Adjusted Life Expectancy (HALE) from currently 59 to
67.5 years, and to reduce mortality for mothers and
children. To achieve this goal, the Ministry of Health and
Social Services (MoHSS) has identified three strategic
pillars for the health sector: (i) people’s wellbeing; (ii)
operational excellence; and (iii) talent management. This
health PER identifies several areas for the Namibian
government to address in view of its goals. |
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