Healthcare Expenditure and Its Impact on SDG3

Abstract

The current study focusses on SDG3 (good health and well-being). The reason for the same is that SDG3 by addressing the basic need for good health and well-being acts as a catalyst for stimulating the progress across all SDGS. Thus, the study first investigated the trends in healthcare expenditure and life expectancy and later on the association between different sources of healthcare expenditure and life expectancy at birth using panel ARDL analysis for South Asian economies. It was observed that there were huge disparities across different South Asian economies in terms of the selected variables. Sri Lanka and Maldives have relatively higher life expectancies while in Afghanistan and Bangladesh there is limited access to healthcare services. The findings highlight the critical role of health expenditure, emphasizing the need for governments to prioritize and support this sector for overall better health outcomes.