Patterns of African healthcare funding: investment implications for public-private partnerships

ABSTRACT

The coronavirus global pandemic now poses additional peril to the already burdened healthcare systems with inadequate funding in Africa. This paper attempts to present the funding patterns for healthcare in Nigeria, Congo, Tanzania, Egypt, and South Africa. It also explored investor opportunities for lowering OOPs and increasing investor profits. Data were drawn from the WHO, the World Bank, and world charts databases. Government health expenditure was far below what individuals and families pay from out-of-pocket payments (OOPs) for healthcare services except in South Africa, where OOP accounts for only 8%. Contrary to popular notion, donation funds or foreign aid for healthcare accounts for a lower percentage of total healthcare expenditure in the countries under consideration. Households mostly bore the healthcare expenditure burden (Nigeria's OOPs of 77%, Congo- 48%, and Egypt- 60%). Averagely, Nigeria and Congo only spent about 3% of their national budget on healthcare. In comparison, Tanzania and Egypt spent an average of 4% and 5% (South Africa-8%) between 2010 and 2017, reflecting low-risk protection for households. Specific aspects for investments through public-private partnerships (PPP) reviewed in this paper should include designing innovative financing models focusing on risk pooling mechanisms to help bridge the funding gap, local production, and manufacture of pharmaceuticals and healthcare equipment at this time, instead of importation. Investors can, therefore, take advantage of the various initiatives outlined in this paper to achieve better health outcomes in Africa.