📄 Abstract
This study examined the effect of health financing on poverty incidence in West Africa, with particular emphasis on the moderating role of economic growth. Specifically, the study assessed the effects of government health expenditure, out-of-pocket health expenditure and external health financing on poverty incidence and examined whether economic growth moderated these relationships. The study adopted an ex-post facto research design and used secondary data covering 16 West African countries from 2010 to 2025. Data were obtained from the World Bank and World Health Organization databases. The study employed the two-step System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to address the dynamic nature of poverty, potential endogeneity and unobserved country-specific effects. The findings showed that government health expenditure significantly reduced poverty incidence, while out-of-pocket health expenditure significantly increased poverty incidence. External health financing also significantly reduced poverty incidence. Economic growth had a significant negative effect on poverty incidence, indicating that stronger economic performance contributed to poverty reduction. Furthermore, economic growth significantly moderated the effects of government health expenditure and out-of-pocket health expenditure on poverty incidence, strengthening the poverty-reducing effect of government health expenditure and weakening the poverty-increasing effect of out-of-pocket expenditure. However, the moderating effect of economic growth on external health financing was negative but statistically insignificant at the 5% level. The study concluded that effective public health financing, reduced reliance on out-of-pocket payments and inclusive economic growth are essential for poverty reduction in West Africa. It recommends increased domestic health financing, expanded health insurance coverage and coordinated health and economic policies to strengthen financial protection and improve poverty outcomes.
🏷️ Keywords
📚 How to Cite:
Dr. Gbidum Sunday Tote, Mamman Suleiman, Leesi, Constance Tote , HEALTH FINANCING AND POVERTY INCIDENCE IN WEST AFRICA: DOES ECONOMIC GROWTH MATTER? , Volume 14 , Issue 9, September 2026, EPRA International Journal of Economic Growth and Environmental Issues (EGEI) , Pages: 1 - 12 , DOI: https://doi.org/10.36713/epra29003