Abstract

Improving maternal and child health outcomes for women and children is a critical step to achieve the MDGs; however it requires sufficient funding to implement proven quality interventions. The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between the different health care financing options cross the Middle East and North Africa “MENA" countries and the maternal and child health outcomes. Our main argument is that: Can different health care financing strategies affect Maternal, Neonatal and Child health? If yes, How?. This study is based on a cross sectional analysis of twenty one states from MENA region between 2009 and 2013 exploring the three dimensions of the maternal and child health outcomes namely a) Infant mortality b) Maternal mortality and c) Child health. Correlation between financial and maternal and child health indicators as well as linear regressions was carried out to investigate the relationships between the maternal and child health indicators and health spending consequently health system financing strategy. The findings of this study indicate that more spending on health is highly associated with positive maternal and child health outcomes namely reduction in infant and child mortality. Our results also indicate that the improvements in government effectiveness in regards to government health spending is accompanied with higher maternal and child health outcomes. Thus, increasing government expenditures is likely to lead to better improvements of health outcomes if it is accompanied by the right policies and institutions, which was the case of the first group of countries in MENA region.

Department

Public Policy & Administration Department

Graduation Date

2-1-2015

Submission Date

January 2015

First Advisor

Barsoum, Ghada

Committee Member 1

Ali, Hamid

Committee Member 2

Banoob, Samir

Extent

63 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Library of Congress Subject Heading 1

Medical care -- Middle East.

Library of Congress Subject Heading 2

Medical care -- Africa, North.

Rights

The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Not necessary for this item

Comments

Firstly I would like to thank my family for their loving support throughout my studies. In addition, I would like to thank Yousef Jameel fellowship for supporting me in obtaining this Master degree at the American University in Cairo. Secondly, I would like to acknowledge my supervisor, Dr. Ghada Barsoum, for her patience, guidance and support, as well as Dr. Laila El Baradei, Dr. Hamid Ali, and all my professors at the Department of Public Policy and Administration for their help and support. Also, it is important to thank Dr. Samir Banoob and Dr. Eduardo Banzon and Dr Awad Matarya for their support along the different stages of this work; they were so supportive and helped me in this research. In addition, I would like to thank all who supported me by actions or even by words to be at this stage in my academic life.

Download

Share

COinS