Evaluating the effect of public health spending in low-income settings

Although public health expenditure is a common policy tool for maintaining and improving population health, evidence of its effects remains mixed and is particularly scarce in low-income settings. This PhD aims to examine the effect of public health expenditure on health and care, with a focus on low-income settings, while also investigating potential mechanisms.

The research will first assess evidence from the existing international literature on the effects of public health expenditure on health and care, identifying the factors that contribute to the mixed findings observed in previous studies. It will then analyse the effect of domestic and international public health expenditure on health and care in low-income settings, considering the role of governance over funding as well as demand- and supply-side factors influencing the effectiveness of such spending. Finally, we will examine the health and care consequences of reductions in international health expenditure within constrained low-income settings.