Increasing Government Investment in Health in Niger
Actual Policy Use
The 2004 NHA results showed there was inequitable distribution of financing within the health sector. The principal source of financing was households at 44.85% of total health expenditure, compared to 31.72% by the government, 21.58% by the rest of the world and1.85% by other sourcse of funding.
Of interest to policymakers was that the health insurance system and other mechanisms of financing based on solidarity were lacking because they were poorly developed in the country. The contribution of health insurance regimes represented only .3% of total health expenditures.
Because of the results encountered from the NHA, in 2006 members of the technical team as well as agents of the Department of Studies and Planning (DPS) of the MOH used the NHA data to present a strong argument for increasing health budgets. In effect, the results proved with firm evidence current allocations for health in 2004, would not be sufficient to obtain the objectives set out by DPS, Millennium Development Goals or the fight against poverty. Policymakers successfully increased the 2007 Ministry of Health budget by 49.5% from the previous year citing evidence from the NHA. Again the next year, the results of the NHA were utilized to advocate for increasing the health sector budget for 2008. The NHA results were clearly a decisive factor in improving health sector financing and effectives.
Source
Sidikou Soumana, Director of Planning at the Ministry of Health
