Abstract
The thesis examines the effect of total healthcare spending and government healthcare spending on health outcomes (infant mortality and child-under 5 mortality) using panel data from 48 African countries for the period from 2003 to 2015. Data show that most of these countries invest less than 5% of their GDP on healthcare and also experience high rates of infant and child under 5 mortalities. Using a fixed effects model, the results indicated that better health outcomes can be achieved when the percentage of the GDP per capita spent on health is increased by these countries. The study also found that government healthcare spending plays an important role in reducing mortality rates. That is, if governments effectively increase their spending on healthcare, better health outcomes are possible.