Inequalities in Maternal Healthcare Spending: Evidence from Malawi

As policies targeting universal maternal care have been rolled out, has public and overall health spending on institutional delivery services become more egalitarian in Malawi? While the distribution of benefits becomes pro-poor for public spending, the distribution of benefits for overall spending remains slightly pro-least-poor even in 2015 at both public and Christian Health Association Malawi (CHAM) facilities. Considerable district differences persist only in relation to overall spending, while they become negligible for public spending. Further policy action is needed to tackle persisting causes of inequality, especially those related to the distribution of benefits for overall spending.