Summary

Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) bear a disproportionately high burden of diseases in comparison to high-income countries, partly due to inequalities in the distribution of resources for health. Recent increases in health spending in these countries demonstrate a commitment to tackling the high burden of disease. However, evidence on the extent to which increased spending on health translates to better population health outcomes has been inconclusive. Some studies have reported improvements in population health with an increase in health spending whereas others have either found no effect or very limited effect to justify increased financial allocations to health. Differences across studies may be explained by differences in approaches adopted in estimating returns to health spending in LMICs.