Who benefits from public spending on health care in Malawi? An application of Benefit Incidence Analysis to the Health Sector

A principal objective of the Malawi government is to provide public health services that reach poor men and women. This paper assesses to what extent the Government has been successful in achieving this. Malawi was also found to be more successful than other countries in Africa at providing health services that reach the poor. The analysis of benefit incidence finds that the distribution of benefits across socio-economic groups is largely explained by differences in the utilization of health services and the lower reported incidence of illness among the poor, rather than the distribution of the health subsidy. Malawi Medical Journal Vol. 18 (2) 2006: pp. 60-6