Al-Hikmah University Journal

Healthcare systems in both the developed and developing worlds have been put under unprecedented strain as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with demand outstripping supply while health facilities have been grossly inadequate most especially in SSA. However, most SSA countries lack the resources and capability to provide the necessary health facilities needed to enhance the population health and the entire health system, thus, there is need to complement this with the alternative such as external financing. Because of this, this study examines the effectiveness of external financing and other postulated determinants on health infrastructure in SSA for the period of 2000 to 2018 by employing Panel-Corrected Standard Error (PCSE) for analysis of the model. The results of the findings indicate that external financing as whole has positive effects on health infrastructure, while private participation in infrastructure and official development assistance have positive effects on health infrastructure, foreign direct investment has negative effects. Consequently, the study recommends that both private participation in infrastructure and official development assistance should be considered as the instruments for promoting health infrastructure while the authorities involve should desist from using foreign direct investment for promoting health infrastructure.