Abstract:
Human health has improved drastically during the last century, yet grave inequalities in
health persist. In Kenya, Public expenditure on health as a percentage of total government
expenditure has been declining. Also Public expenditure on health as a percentage of
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been declining. This means that access to health care
has been and still is out of reach for majority of Kenyans. Increasing population and
demand for healthcare outstrips the ability of the government to provide effective health
services. Majority of Kenyans cannot easily access health care due to long distances they
have to travel to get to health facilities, inadequate qualified health personnel, lack of
medicines and more seriously the high cost since they have to make out-of-pocket
payments to get health services. Per capita expenditure on public health is inadequate to
meet even the most basic services such as diagnosis. This study investigated the
relationship between per capita public healthcare expenditure (PHEXP) in Kenya as the
dependent variable and independent variables; Real Per Capita GDP (RPGDP),
Population (POPN), secondary school enrolment (SSE) and life expectancy (LFE). The
specific objectives were: to determine the relationship between Gross Domestic Product
and public health care expenditure, to investigate the relationship between secondary
school enrolment and public health care expenditure, to evaluate the relationship between
population and public health care expenditure and to determine the relationship between
life expectancy at birth and public health care expenditure. Data used in the study was
annual time series secondary data which was sourced from International Monetary Fund
(IMF) and The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). The data was analyzed
using STATA 10 econometric software. The study covered a period of 31 years from
1980 to 2010. The results indicated that public healthcare expenditure (PHEXP) has a
positive relationship with real per capita GDP (RPGDP) and population (POPN) and a
negative relationship with secondary school enrolment (SSE) and life expectancy (LFE).
Only life expectancy (LFE) was statistically significant but real per capita GDP
(RPGDP), population (POPN) and secondary school enrolment (SSE) were statistically
insignificant. The regression results indicated that the model is a good fit, meaning that
all the predictors in the model account for the variation in the dependent variable. The
variables were cointegrated implying there was a long-run relationship between them.
The study recommended that: First, the government should increase its budgetary
allocation to the health sector based on the economic growth of the country to ensure
attainment of universal healthcare; Secondly, population should be taken into
consideration when making allocations to the health sector. Increase in population means
increased demand for health services hence more government spending is required to
meet the increased demand. Thirdly, the government should also support secondary
school enrolment and adult literacy programmes as these will make the population to be
knowledgeable and health conscious.