ABSTRACT

This paper examines whether increasing diffusion of ICTs has the potential to improve healthcare use and access to better health outcome and higher spending on health in 38 low-income countries with a panel data for the period of 1995 to 2015. The panel corrected standard error, and fixed effect Driscoll-Kraay methods were used to account for unobserved heterogeneity and cross-section dependence in the panel data. A healthoutcome index was developed using partial least square based on a structural equation model with SmartPLS (version 2) software package. The estimated results indicate that increasing diffusion of ICT impacts both the health outcome and expenditure, positively and significantly. The association is stronger when the diffusion of ICT takes place in rural areas. In conclusion, ICT is not only a means for providing better healthcare services but also an essential instrument for popularizing healthcare access and use for all.

摘要

本文利用1995年至2015年的面板数据，研究了38个低收入国家中ICT普及程度的提高是否有可能改善医疗保健的使用，获得更好的健康结果以及增加医疗支出的潜力。该小组校正了标准误，固定效应Driscoll-Kraay方法用于解释面板数据中未观察到的异质性和横截面依赖性。使用偏最小二乘基于具有SmartPLS（版本2）软件包的结构方程模型，开发了健康指标。估计结果表明，信息通信技术的日益普及对健康结果和支出都产生了积极而显着的影响。当信息通信技术在农村地区传播时，这种联系会更强。结论，