Harmonizing Budget Cycles: Lessons for Health Advocates
Government spending on health remains low in most African countries. In 2001, African heads of state committed to the Abuja target to spend 15 percent or more of government expenditure on health. As of 2005, only five African countries had achieved this target. Why? One obstacle is the misalignment of the national and health budget timelines, which leads to a vicious cycle of under-spending and under-allocation of public funds for health. Kenya’s story of misaligned budgets, and the impact on health workers, commodities, and even health managers’ enthusiasm for planning, may help other countries to fix an operational hurdle to increasing funding for health.
Author: Stephen Muchiri
Published: Mar 20 2010
