Closing the health development gap: An analysis of health spending in Southeast Asia

Financing health development through increased domestic resource allocation is a topic of substantial discussion for the post-2015 development agenda. Past development strategies, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), have relied on wealthy country aid commitments in order to fund interventions in resource-limited settings. As the international community welcomes in a new era of development, some scholars argue that in order to have sustained progress, development financing strategies must move away from a focus on donor aid and concentrate on increased domestic resource mobilization (Jamison et al., 2013; Sachs & Schmidt-Traub, 2015). Despite the many studies justifying donor funding, there is little research on the impact domestic financing has had on achieving health development targets. The aim of this study is to provide empirical evidence on the relationship between various sources of health expenditure and health outcomes within low- to middle-income countries during the MDG era. By understanding the relative impact sources of development financing have had on health progress, policymakers will have better context with which to mobilize the international community towards more sustainable development strategies.