Do Health Conditions Determine the Flow of External Health Resources? Evidence from Panel Data

This article examines the determinants underlying the decision to select a recipient country and the decision about how much health aid to transfer, using data from 22 bilateral donors and 160 recipient countries between 1990 and 2007. Many different factors influence the decisions at each of the two decision stages. Whereas a suite of health indicators – maternal and child health as well as HIV/AIDS – influence the selection decision, only HIV/AIDS matters for the actual funding decision. Poor countries have greater selection chances and attract greater aid shares. The corruption level does not play a significant role in the decision-making process. Domestic health expenditures are associated with a greater chance of being selected as a recipient. Decisions taken by bilateral donors are not affected by multilateral donors. Not only is the donor-recipient relationship a significant explanatory factor, but so are a donor’s characteristics