Synthesis of findings from NHA studies in twenty-six countries.

National Health Accounts (NHA) is a tool designed to inform the health policy process. It aims to do so by providing policymakers with valuable information on the distribution of health funds within the system. NHA was introduced and implemented in a number of low- and middle- income countries in the mid- to late 1990s. This study synthesizes NHA findings from 26 countries in the Eastern and Southern Africa network the Middle East and North Africa network and the Latin America and Caribbean network in order to provide a comprehensive picture of health spending and how it is financed in these countries. Comparisons are drawn within and across the regions paying special attention to among other things the sources of financing the role of insurance households and donors in financing health expenditures and expenditures on pharmaceuticals. (authors)