Out-of-Pocket Health Expenditure in Sub Saharan Africa: The Role of Government and External Health Expenditures

This study aims to analyze the impact of government and external health spending on OOPHE across 30 SSA countries from 1995 to 2021. Using advanced econometric techniques, including the cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed Lags (CS-ARDL) model and the dynamic common correlated effe...

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Main Authors: Tewa Papy Voto, Nicholas Ngepah
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-04-01
Series:Economies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/13/5/119
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author Tewa Papy Voto
Nicholas Ngepah
author_facet Tewa Papy Voto
Nicholas Ngepah
author_sort Tewa Papy Voto
collection DOAJ
description This study aims to analyze the impact of government and external health spending on OOPHE across 30 SSA countries from 1995 to 2021. Using advanced econometric techniques, including the cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed Lags (CS-ARDL) model and the dynamic common correlated effects (DCCE) approach, the study examined both short-term and long-term effects. Findings reveal that in the long term, government health expenditure (GHE) has a more significant impact on reducing OOPHE compared to external health expenditure (EHE). However, in the short term, GHE initially increases OOPHE, while EHE directly reduces it. This suggests that increasing GHE is more effective for long-term progress towards SDG 3. In contrast, EHE can provide immediate relief in the short term. To achieve SDG 3, policymakers should focus on increasing GHE for sustained improvements while leveraging EHE to address short-term challenges. Combining both strategies can optimize progress toward ensuring universal health coverage and well-being for all.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2227-7099
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publisher MDPI AG
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series Economies
spelling doaj-art-2139e5fcb1294d27bb5f6065f994850a2025-08-20T03:47:49ZengMDPI AGEconomies2227-70992025-04-0113511910.3390/economies13050119Out-of-Pocket Health Expenditure in Sub Saharan Africa: The Role of Government and External Health ExpendituresTewa Papy Voto0Nicholas Ngepah1Auckland Park Kingsway Campus, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg 2006, South AfricaDepartment of Economic and Econometrics, College of Business and Economics, Johannesburg 2006, South AfricaThis study aims to analyze the impact of government and external health spending on OOPHE across 30 SSA countries from 1995 to 2021. Using advanced econometric techniques, including the cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed Lags (CS-ARDL) model and the dynamic common correlated effects (DCCE) approach, the study examined both short-term and long-term effects. Findings reveal that in the long term, government health expenditure (GHE) has a more significant impact on reducing OOPHE compared to external health expenditure (EHE). However, in the short term, GHE initially increases OOPHE, while EHE directly reduces it. This suggests that increasing GHE is more effective for long-term progress towards SDG 3. In contrast, EHE can provide immediate relief in the short term. To achieve SDG 3, policymakers should focus on increasing GHE for sustained improvements while leveraging EHE to address short-term challenges. Combining both strategies can optimize progress toward ensuring universal health coverage and well-being for all.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/13/5/119OOPHEGHEEHECS-ARDLDCCE
spellingShingle Tewa Papy Voto
Nicholas Ngepah
Out-of-Pocket Health Expenditure in Sub Saharan Africa: The Role of Government and External Health Expenditures
Economies
OOPHE
GHE
EHE
CS-ARDL
DCCE
title Out-of-Pocket Health Expenditure in Sub Saharan Africa: The Role of Government and External Health Expenditures
title_full Out-of-Pocket Health Expenditure in Sub Saharan Africa: The Role of Government and External Health Expenditures
title_fullStr Out-of-Pocket Health Expenditure in Sub Saharan Africa: The Role of Government and External Health Expenditures
title_full_unstemmed Out-of-Pocket Health Expenditure in Sub Saharan Africa: The Role of Government and External Health Expenditures
title_short Out-of-Pocket Health Expenditure in Sub Saharan Africa: The Role of Government and External Health Expenditures
title_sort out of pocket health expenditure in sub saharan africa the role of government and external health expenditures
topic OOPHE
GHE
EHE
CS-ARDL
DCCE
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/13/5/119
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