Premium
Recurrent costs in the health sector of developing countries
Author(s) -
Waddington Catriona,
Thomas Margaret
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
the international journal of health planning and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1099-1751
pISSN - 0749-6753
DOI - 10.1002/hpm.4740030303
Subject(s) - action (physics) , health sector , scale (ratio) , developing country , action plan , control (management) , health care , risk analysis (engineering) , business , public economics , economic growth , health services , economics , medicine , management , environmental health , quantum mechanics , population , physics
Widespread concern exists about the recurrent cost problems faced in the health sector of developing countries, and about the difficulties likely to be faced in the 1990s and beyond in seeking to expand further the movement to primary health care. The article accepts that the problem is a real one, and seeks first to define and measure it, and to put together some of the evidence on the scale of the problem. Next, the analysis involves an examination of its causes, and hence its solutions, exploring in some detail issues of budgetary control, management decision making, project selection, and the prospects for mobilizing additional recurrent funds to, and within, the health sector. The article concludes by drawing attention to the complex aetiology of the recurrent cost problem, and offers a five‐point plan of action if the problem is to be tackled seriously.