J Korean Med Assoc.  2013 Sep;56(9):827-836. 10.5124/jkma.2013.56.9.827.

The determinants of official development assistance for healthcare in Korea

• Yoon SZ
• Yoon JW

• KMID: 2015678
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2013.56.9.827

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the factors that affect the amount of official development assistance (ODA) a developing country receives for healthcare by the Korean government. We empirically tested to what extent the amount of Korea's ODA in health care services, infrastructure, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis are affected by the relevant demand factors in the recipient countries. To do so, we carried out country-level multivariate regression analyses by setting the amount of ODA for four health care sectors as dependent variables and the relevant demand factors and economic factors as independent variables. A panel dataset was constructed by combining ODA data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and World Development Indicators. The analyses showed that the ODA for health care in Korea is partly meeting the recipient's health care needs. In particular, the recipients with a smaller number of physicians are likely to receive more ODA for medical services. Meanwhile, the amount of international trade with Korea is likely to affect the amount of ODA for medical services. However, disease factors, such as prevalence of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, did not positively affect the amount of ODA for those diseases. These results indicate that Korea's ODA system for health care needs to be improved to meet the demand of the recipients in order to achieve the humanitarian objectives set by the international community. We hope that the medical community and the government of Korea can cooperate in setting the global policy agenda for health care ODA based on concrete evidence-based healthcare policy research.

Keyword

Official development assistance; Millennium development goal; Healthcare policy

MeSH Terms

Delivery of Health Care
Developing Countries
Health Care Sector
Korea
Prevalence
Tuberculosis

Reference

1. Murray CJ, Anderson B, Burstein R, Leach-Kemon K, Schneider M, Tardif A, Zhang R. Development assistance for health: trends and prospects. Lancet. 2011; 378:8–10.

2. Atun R, Knaul FM, Akachi Y, Frenk J. Innovative financing for health: what is truly innovative? Lancet. 2012; 380:2044–2049.

3. Stuckler D, Basu S, Wang SW, McKee M. Does recession reduce global health aid? Evidence from 15 high-income countries, 1975-2007. Bull World Health Organ. 2011; 89:252–257.

4. European Commission. The EU role in global health. Brussels: European Commission;2010.

5. White F. Development assistance for health: donor commitment as a critical success factor. Can J Public Health. 2011; 102:421–423.

6. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Japan's global health policy 2011-2015. Tokyo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan;2010.

7. Committee of International Development Cooperation of Korea. Strategic plan for international development cooperation. Sejong: Committee of International Development Cooperation of Korea;2010.

8. Bank of Korea. National income. Seoul: Bank of Korea;2013.

9. Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Recent trends in official development assistance to health. Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development;2009.

10. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Aid statistics. Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development;2013.

11. Lebovic JH. National interests and US foreign aid: the Carter and Reagan years. J Peace Res. 1998; 25:115–135.

12. Wolf C. Foreign aid: theory and practice in southern Asia. Princeton: Princeton University Press;1960.

13. Hong SP, Cho MS, Chang JY. Study on improving effectiveness of Korea's health field ODA. Seoul: Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs;2011.

14. Pan America Health Organization. Health in the Americas: regional overview and country profiles. Washington, DC: Pan American Health Organization;2012.

15. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. 2010 DAC report on multilateral aid. Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development;2010.

16. Kim ST. The Asia Foundation. Strengthening Korea's evaluation of ODA projects. In : US-Korea Dialogue on Strategies for Effective Development Cooperation; 2011 Oct 17-18; Seoul, Korea. San Francisco: The Asia Foundation;2011. p. 1–31.

17. Glassman A, Chalkidou K. Priority-setting in health: building institutions for smarter public spending. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development;2012.