Table 3 Key messages

Key messages

1. Total health spending increased across the six Countdown country case studies (Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Malawi, Pakistan, Peru, and Tanzania) since 2000, where the MDG agenda encouraged countries to invest more resources in health. Malawi, Ethiopia, and Peru had the most notable increase in health spending of more than 200 % after 2000.

2. Reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and child health (RMNCH) spending substantially increased during the MDG timeframe. Since 2005, total CH expenditures increased (in constant 2012 US$) for Ethiopia, Malawi, and Peru by 58, 173 and 490 %, respectively. Total MNH (Peru) and RMNH (Malawi, Ethiopia, and Tanzania) health spending also increased substantially during after 2005 by 65, 202, 77 and 200 % for Malawi, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Peru, respectively. In Pakistan, total MNCH expenditures increased by 96 % between 2001 and 2010.

3. No country achieved MDG 5, however Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Peru have made considerable progress with more than 80 % of the target achieved, and variable rates of per woman of reproductive age spending of US$44, US$12, and US$582, respectively. Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Malawi met MDG 4 with US$16 (2011), US$23 (2010), and US$44 (2012) health spending per child under 5 years, respectively.

4. Common themes of contributing factors that led to an increase in RMNCH funding, and thus improvements to RMNCH outcomes, are political stability; consistent political commitment to health; rapid economic growth; community engagement; decentralisation; anti-poverty programmes with explicit focus on RMNCH; and for some low-income countries, increased external support.

5. Enhancing RMNCH resource-tracking systems will make it easier to assess where countries invest resources and identify steps toward outcome improvements.