Public Financing of Health in Developing Countries

I attended a conference today hosted jointly by the Imperial College’s Institute for Global Health and the Lancet which discussed public financing of health in developing countries. The centre-piece of the conference was a presentation by Professor Christopher Murray of the paper published by him and his colleagues in the Lancet. The main conclusion of Professor Murray’s study was that development assistance for health from donor countries can lead to a reduction in direct government spending on health in developing countries. In contrast, when development assistance for health was given to non-governmental organisations, this effect was not present. The study was a very impressive achievement, particularly given the limitations of the data that Professor Murray’s team had to use. The study raises some important questions for both donor countries and recipients of development assistance for health.

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