Official Development Assistance for Health and Maternal Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Purpose: Maternal mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is extremely high. Attention is being given to the key health indicators (as means for achieving human development) among which is maternal mortality towards achieving the global development goals. In a bid to ensuring that the targets are met in SSA, there have been influx of official development assistance for health (ODAH) into the sub-region. Meanwhile, little attention is usually paid to maternal mortality in the study of effects of foreign aid for health despite the multiple consequences of maternal death, hence, the need for the present study. Methodology: Data from 2000 to 2023 covering 46 SSA countries were obtained from Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, World Development Indicators, World Governance Indicator and the UNICEF. These were analyzed using system Generalized Method of Moment (sGMM) while the Pooled OLS and the Fixed Effect models were analyzed to confirm robustness of the estimated model. Findings: Results revealed that ODAH, domestic health expenditure and per capita GDP significantly reduced maternal mortality while fertility rate and corruption significantly increased it. It is appropriate to note that trade openness which is a reflection of globalization did not improve maternal death. It was concluded that though ODAH significantly reduced MMR the effect was small. The AR(1) and AR(2) tests confirmed the validity of the estimated sGMM model while the Sargan and the Hansen tests established the validity of the instrumental variables used in the estimation. Implication/Recommendation: The study recommended effective use of ODAH, determination and political will to curb corruption in governance especially in the health sector and increased domestic public health spending in order to achieve improved maternal health outcome in the region.