Elizabeth Yinka Sango-Coker
Cyprus International University, Turkey
Title: Will increased healthcare expenditure reduce burden of communicable and noncommunicable diseases? Evidence of 15 West African countries
Biography
Biography: Elizabeth Yinka Sango-Coker
Abstract
This research titled: Will Increased Healthcare Expenditure reduce Burden of Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases? Evidence of 15 West African Countries; investigates the relationship between Healthcare Expenditure and Communicable/Non-Communicable diseases of private, public, and total (public-private) healthcare sectors of 15 countries in West African (W.A) within adult female, adult male and total population, age ranges between 15 – 49 years. What will happen if the government of these countries in West Africa (WA) increases the healthcare expenditure of their population? Will communicable diseases (CDs) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) be controlled? The base of this research is to investigate if there is a relationship between these variables. West Africa region are highly populated with low income earners, high burden diseases in of CDs or NCDs, and mostly underdeveloped Nations. The effect of burden diseases, either as CNs or NCDs does not only affect the state of health of a population, but also increases the economic burden of the nation. This is as a result of decrease in activities of the victims economically. Communicable diseases are spread by mere physical contact or being closely grouped in the same place with carriers; such diseases include cholera, Ebola, hepatitis, and retrovirus while Non-communicable diseases types are not contracted easily when the patients come in contact with people who do not have the disease. They are mostly hereditary and transferred through genes or unhealthy food consumption; hypertensions, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, mal-nutrition among others are some examples of NCDs. Using secondary data mainly from World Bank and other supported data from HDI (Human Development Index), WHO (World Health Organization), and UN (United Nations), for 16 years within 1999 to 2014. Empirical results shows negative figures which indicates there exist a positive relationship between Communicable/Non-Communicable diseases reducing against increased in total and public healthcare expenditures shown by pooled regression, pairwise, Spearman, and Ktau correlation methods. Exception was found that Communicable/Non-Communicable diseases does not reduce within the adult female population as Private Healthcare Expenditure increases, indicating a negative relationship between increased in private Healthcare Expenditure and reducing adult female Communicable/Non-Communicable diseases. Hence future research is recommended to investigate miss-appropriations of funds due to corruption, gender inequality, literacy, domestic violence and exposure level in adult female population.