Guide for the institutionalization of National Health Accounts in the African region
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) mission is to work for better health for everyone. To that end, the WHO Regional Office for Africa translates this complex global mission into goals and activities that require considerable resources at both regional and country levels. Given that resources are ever limited, smart investments with enhanced value are required for decision-making. Smart decisions need answers to key questions on health expenditure: Who is financing the health services and how much are they spending? What type of services are available and who provides them? Who is benefiting from these health expenditures? To answer these questions, national health accounts (NHA), a standardized international system of accounting for health care expenditure, was developed (OECD, 2000). It has been improved over time and scaled up.