[afro-nets] National Health Accounts

[A Odutola <chpss_abo@yahoo.com>]

National Health Accounts
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Will National Health Accounts assist in informing better public
health policymaking and service delivery in Nigeria?

Drawing from the accounting profession, the 'big' sounding term
National Health Accounts (NHA) simply refers to "Sources and
Utilization of Funds" accounts with special reference to a na-
tion's health sector.

The simple purpose of NHA is to help both public and private
health stakeholders get a clear picture as to 'how much' and
from 'where' funds applied in the health sector are derived and
how these funds are applied. Such information when effectively
processed paints a picture collage of sources of health-specific
funds, health expenditure pattern, health assets and liabilities
and health outcomes sub-sector by sub-sector. Depending of us-
age, the collage in turn could help in shaping and prioritizing
public and private health sector policies and programmes.

The introduction of National Health Accounts is one of the seven
or so goals of Dr. Lambo's new health sector reform agenda for
Nigeria. In a country where national, state, local government
and other public institutional accounts are hardly audited
timely if at all, or if audited rarely made available for public
scrutiny, skeptical concerns about what impact the introduction
of National Health Accounts would have on Nigeria's public
health policymaking and health delivery process may be justi-
fied.

Notwithstanding, below is yet another valuable resource provid-
ing NHA implementation process and lessons learnt thereof from
the following Africa countries among twenty one other developing
countries: Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania,
Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Enjoy!

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"Has improved availability of health expenditure data contrib-
uted to evidence-based policymaking? Country experiences with
National Health Accounts."

Download as Adobe PDF file (56 pp. 376 kB) at:
http://www.dec.org/pdf_docs/PNACU809.pdf


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A. Odutola
mailto:chpss_abo@yahoo.com