Publication: Investing in Universal Health Coverage: Opportunities and Challenges for Health Financing in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Date
2014-01
ISSN
Published
2014-01
Author(s)
Barroy, Hélène
André, Françoise
Mayaka, Serge
Samaha, Hadia
Abstract
The report contains eight chapters.
Chapter one leads off with the main macroeconomic and fiscal
determinants to understand the general health financing
situation in DRC. Its sections one and two provide a brief
overview of the country’s macroeconomic and fiscal
environment. Section three sheds new light on
decentralization, a core health issue, and focuses on the
fiscal implications of decentralization. Section 4 offers a
brief analysis of the management of public finance, a key
element for the effectiveness and quality of expenditure,
especially in health. Chapter two starts with a brief
overview of the main objectives and analyzes its
organization and governance, with a focus on health care
delivery. Chapter three discusses the performance of the
main health system’s outputs and outcomes. Section one
analyzes major changes in health outcomes based on different
household surveys. Section two addresses service coverage
with a focus on mother and child services. Section three
explores service quality issues. In a detailed analysis of
health financing sources, Chapter four looks at changes in
public, external, and private sources over 2008–2013
(section one). Section two analyzes the adequacy of
government funding for health financing needs, and assesses
the prospects for expanding fiscal space for health. Chapter
five examines government funds mobilized for health, both
allocated in the budget and executed (or actuals).
Government resources for health are taken to mean all
domestic financing sources allocated to the Ministry of
Public Health and other health entities. Section one
examines changes in the health budget envelope over
2007–2013, while section two focuses on actual spending.
Section three analyzes government executed expenditure by
nature and section four reviews trends and types of
personnel expenditure, the largest share of government
health expenditure. Chapter six focuses on health
expenditure performance in the light of three main
parameters: financial protection; equity; and efficiency.
Section one analyzes financial protection using standard
indicators (share of out-of-pocket payments, catastrophic
expenditure, and impoverishing expenditure). Section two
scrutinizes health outcomes and service use disparities and
inequalities based on income, gender, and place of
residence. The last section presents an overview of the
efficiency of health expenditure in DRC, primarily in
comparison to its peer countries. Chapter seven analyzes
health financing from the point of view of the provinces,
the new ‘entitled’ authorities for the health sector,
drawing on a survey of financial and fiscal data from six
provinces. Section one presents an overview of health
financing flows after decentralization. Section two focuses
on financing sources for the health sector at the provincial
level, examining provincial government funds, external
assistance, and central government transfers. The chapter
ends with an analysis of the volume and type of
decentralized government health expenditure. The report
concludes in a brief chapter eight with a series of
recommendations to improve short- and medium-term health
sector financing and performance.
Citation
“Barroy, Hélène; André, Françoise; Mayaka, Serge; Samaha, Hadia. 2014. Investing in Universal Health Coverage: Opportunities and Challenges for Health Financing in the Democratic Republic of Congo. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23880 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”