Rethinking the Dynamics of Healthcare Funding, Maternal Health Status and Lifespan Inequality Among Women in the ECOWAS Region

Motivated by the widening gap in lifespan within and between countries and across age groups, this study quantifies the implications of public health expenditure, out-of-pocket healthcare payments and maternal health conditions such as the prevalence of obesity and anaemia on lifespan inequality among women in five anglophone countries (Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia) and five francophone countries (Senegal, Niger, Mali, Guinea and Togo) in the ECOWAS region. Heterogeneous panel estimation involving mean group (MG) and pooled mean group (PMG) estimators alongside unit root tests and descriptive statistics formed the basis for the analysis. Findings indicate that public health expenditure does not significantly reduce the disparity in lifespan in both the short and long run. This highlights the need for more effective public healthcare financing that will increase healthcare access and prioritise healthcare in reinvestments of the savings from subsidy removal, while mitigating corruption. Further analysis showed that out-of-pocket healthcare payments significantly reduced inequality in the length of life of women in both the short and long run. This highlights the efficacy of out-of-pocket healthcare payments in promoting uniformity in the ages of death of women. However, the findings showed that the prevalence of obesity and anaemia among women worsened the lifespan inequality during the study period. This explains the need to address underlying health conditions in women through healthy diets and regular physical exercise. Given the findings, this study recommends boosting the purchasing power of women for more independent financial decisions to improve equality in their longevity. Again, targeted conditional cash transfers should be provided to vulnerable women to boost their out-of-pocket healthcare payments for a more equal lifespan.