Page 117 - GHES-2-1

Global Health Econ Sustain

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Impact of health expenditure on poverty

in low- and middle-income countries: An
autoregressive distributed lag bounds approach

Fawzia Mohammed Idris, Mehdi Seraj*, and Huseyin Ozdeser

Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Near East University,
Nicosia, North Cyprus

Abstract

The high costs of complex and numerous medical services, coupled with various
diseases and epidemics, result in a substantial financial burden for individuals. The
previous studies have focused on extending health financing and access to health
services. However, it is crucial to use resources effectively to avoid impoverishment.
This study investigates the relationship between poverty rates and health-care
expenditure in low- and middle-income countries from 2000 to 2018 by employing
the error correction model and autoregressive distributed lag models to identify
the long- and short-run relationships and adjustment speed toward equilibrium.
Academic editor: The results demonstrate a significant positive relationship between poverty and
Mihajlo Jakovljevic M.D. Ph.D. MAE healthcare expenditure in both the long and short terms. The significant ECT result
*Corresponding author: implies a relatively slow adjustment speed toward equilibrium, indicating that
Mehdi Seraj deviations from the equilibrium level take almost 5 years to rectify. These results
(mehdi.seraj@neu.edu.tr)
emphasize the importance of policymakers judiciously weighing the opportunity
Citation: Idris, F.M., Seraj, M. costs associated with health-care management goals. While extending health
& Ozdeser, H. (2024). Impact of financing and promoting access are crucial objectives, the findings of this study
health expenditure on poverty in
low- and middle-income countries: emphasize the need to align these efforts with efficient resource utilization
An autoregressive distributed lag to prevent the inadvertent exacerbation of poverty. In conclusion, this study
bounds approach. Global Health contributes valuable insights to the discourse on health economics, advocating
Econ Sustain, 2(1): 2383.
https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.2383 for a balanced and holistic approach to health-care policy formulation and
implementation.
Received: December 7, 2023
Accepted: January 17, 2024
Keywords: Autoregressive distributed lag bounds; Error correction model; Health-care
Published Online: February 27, expenditure; Health-care management; Low- and middle-income countries; Poverty
2024
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s).
This is an Open-Access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution 1. Introduction
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, Recently, global attention to health expenditures has surged. The nexus between health,
provided the original work is economic well-being, and the plight of the impoverished population has become a central
properly cited. concern. This study seeks to discern the influence of health expenditures on poverty
Publisher’s Note: AccScience trends by scrutinizing whether such expenditures contribute to an increase or decrease
Publishing remains neutral with in poverty. The World Health Organization (WHO) assertion in 2011, pointing to the
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional potential negative repercussions of health expenditures on impoverished situations
affiliations. leading to catastrophic impoverishment, served as a backdrop for this investigation.

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2024) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.2383