Dépenses de santé et équité dans l'accès aux services de santé dans les pays en développement

Over the last ten years, health has received a higher priority in development policies, as shown by a sharp increase in health expenditure. This increase will contribute effectively to poverty reduction only if such expenditure is efficient and if access to health services becomes more equitable. This paper contributes to the study of health equity in developing countries, with particular attention paid to child and maternal health services. We find that the poor benefit somewhat more than the rich from increased public health expenditures, but that the subsequent improvement in health equity is only marginal. In addition we find that access to health services depends considerably on the socioeconomic characteristics of households, most notably on the mother's education level. A policy targeting schooling of girls would then significantly improve access to health services for the poor. Finally, we find that improvements in several dimensions of governance would also make access to health services appreciably more equitable.