Peer-reviewed article
Illicit financial flows and the provision of child and maternal health services in low- and middle-income countries
Bienvenido Ortega, Jesús Carlos Sanjuán Solís, Antonio Casquero ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how illicit financial flows (money moved illegally out of countries) affect child and maternal health services in 72 low- and middle-income countries between 2008-2013. Researchers found that when illicit financial flows increase as a share of trade, countries provide fewer health services: family planning coverage, antenatal care for women, and child vaccinations all declined. The researchers estimate that a 1 percentage point increase in illicit flows could prevent nearly 4 million women and 190,000 children from receiving these basic health services.
Key points
- A 1 percentage point increase in the ratio of illicit financial flows to total trade was associated with 0.46 percentage point decrease in family planning coverage
- Same increase in illicit flows was associated with 0.31 percentage point decrease in antenatal care coverage
- Same increase in illicit flows was associated with 0.32 percentage point decrease in child vaccination coverage rates
- An estimated 3.9 million women and 190,000 children may not receive basic health care as a consequence of a 1 percentage point increase in the illicit flows ratio
- Illicit financial flows may undermine achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda
Limitations
The study uses cross-sectional data rather than longitudinal tracking, so it cannot definitively prove that illicit flows cause reduced health services—only that they are associated. The country hint suggests Spain, but this study is about low- and middle-income countries globally, so the country hint may be inaccurate.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Illicit financial flows (IFFs) drain domestic resources with harmful social effects, especially in countries which are too poor to mobilise the revenues required to finance the provision of essential public goods and services. In this context, this article empirically examined the association between IFFs and the provision of essential health services in low- and middle-income countries. METHODS: Firstly, a set of indicators was selected to represent the overall coverage of essential health services at the country level. Next, a linear multivariate regression model was specified and estimated for each indicator using cross-sectional data for 72 countries for the period 2008-2013. RESULTS: After controlling for other relevant factors, the main result of the regression analysis was that an annual 1 percentage point (p.p.) increase in the ratio of IFFs to total trade was associated with a 0.46 p.p. decrease in the level of family planning coverage, a 0.31 p.p. decrease in the percentage of women receiving antenatal care, and a 0.32 p.p. decrease in the level of child vaccination coverage rates. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that, for the whole sample of countries considered, at least 3.9 million women and 190,000 children may not receive these basic health care interventions in the future as a consequence of a 1 p.p. increase in the ratio of IFFs to total trade. Moreover, given that family planning, reproductive health, and child immunisation are foundational components of health and long-term development in poor countries, the findings show that IFFs could be undermining the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.