AN EVALUATION OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH EXPENDITURE AND HEALTH OUTCOMES IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

One of the numerous responsibilities of the government of any country is to invest in the various sectors of the economy. This should however be channeled to the appropriate sectors, such as the health sector, that will lead to a continual growth of the country. It is in the light of this, that this study looks at government spending on health and its effect on health outcomes in Nigeria. Health is central to the wellbeing of the citizens. This study made an attempt to provide empirical evidence of the impact of public health spending on health outcomes in Nigeria between 1979 and 2012. This study made use of the Johansen Co-integration and the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) econometric technique to determine the long-run relationship between public spending on health and health outcomes in Nigeria. The study found out that public spending on health has a significant relationship with health outcomes in Nigeria. It was also discovered that environmental factors such as carbon dioxide emissions which was used in this study affects individuals health. Therefore, based on the findings of this study, it recommends that the government should introduce programmes that will cause awareness concerning the effect of carbon dioxide emissions on individual health and should advice people and industries on how to deal with it. It should also separate residential and industrial areas to avoid any hazard caused from carbon dioxide emissions. Also, the government should increase and restructure the public expenditure allocation to the health sector.