Bucking the trend? Health care expenditures in low-income countries 1990-1995

Health care expenditures in low-income countries are analysed for the years 1990 and 1995 using four key indicators. Key findings include a substantial reduction in public spending per capita across low-income countries between 1990-95; a significant shift towards private expenditures, which appears increasingly to be substituting rather than supplementing public expenditures; a fall in total and public health spending in many countries despite growth in national income, contradicting the relationship found in other studies. Two possible explanations are put forward. First that the patterns found are a direct result of the structural adjustment policies adopted by many low-income countries, which aim to control and often cut public financing, whilst promoting private health expenditures. Secondly, that following the wave of privatization of state industries, many governments are finding problems adapting to their new role as a tax collector, and are thus not benefiting from economic growth to the extent that might be expected. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.