Africa Health Budget Network and Government Spending Watch - Health Spending Scorecard

The Africa Health Budget Network and Government Spending Watch present a joint scorecard showcasing planned government health spending in 2014 across 30 African countries. It is available in French and English.The scorecard assesses performance on four indicators:

1. Is health spending prioritised in the government budget?
2. Does the government spend enough on each person’s health?
3. Is government health spending consistent with country wealth?
4. Is government health spending transparent?

For each indicator, performance is scored against global targets but also according to whether progress was made between 2013 and 2014.The scorecard uses data collected directly from original budgets by Government Spending Watch. You can freely access this data online from www.governmentspendingwatch.org/spending-dataYou will notice that Government Spending Watch data may differ from government health spending indicators in the World Health Organization’s Global Health Expenditure Database. Part of the reason for this is that GSW data refers to budgets only, while WHO’s government spending indicators also include extra-budgetary spending channelled through parastatals (companies or agencies wholly or partly controlled by the government), mandatory insurance schemes, or other extra-budgetary entities.We recommend the GSW database for the following reasons:

• it includes data up to 2014; it includes both planned and actual spending
• it differentiates between sources of funding in the government budget (domestic versus external)
• it includes data for all MDG sectors as well as debt repayment and defence, such that health spending can be compared to other sectoral spending
• it typically includes detailed methodological notes and sources for each country

To view the scorecard in English, click here.To view the scorecard in French, click here.Africa Health Budget Network & Government Spending Watch. (2015). Africa Health Budget Network Health Spending Scorecard. London: AHBN & GSW.