Investing in Health: Examining the Relationship Between Health Expenditures and Health Outcomes in Foreign Aid

• In Event: 30421 - Section on Global and Transnational Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 5. Global Dependencies and their Workings

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the mechanisms through which health-specific foreign aid programs contribute to improved health outcomes by using PEPFAR as a case study. As one of the most extensive foreign aid initiatives targeting a single disease, PEPFAR has been widely studied for its impact on HIV/AIDS, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. While some research highlights its success in reducing infection rates and generating positive spill-over effects, others argue that its outcomes have been limited due to persistent structural barriers, including stigma, inadequate healthcare services, and restrictive state policies. Additionally, the effectiveness of foreign aid is often linked to the institutional quality of recipient countries, as governance structures influence budget allocation, healthcare access, and overall public health investments. By analyzing PEPFAR’s outcomes across its recipient countries, this paper seeks to understand how financial investments in health aid translate into tangible health improvements and to what extent the robustness of democratic institutions affects these outcomes. Through this investigation, the study aims to contribute to the broader discourse on the relationship between foreign aid, institutional quality, and public health effectiveness. This paper will use sequence analysis to understand the trend of HIV/AIDS cases within the recipient states and the patterns of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) enrollments. Further, it will also utilize multiple regression analysis to understand the relationship between funding and HIV/AIDS cases and ART enrollments.

Author

• Jorge Manuel Balboa Chia, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign