Impact of Health Official Development Assistance and Institutional Quality on Economic Growth in West Africa

The study evaluates the mediating roles institutional quality plays in conjunction with health official development assistance in impacting economic growth of 15 West African countries between 2013 and 2022. In order to address this primary objective, the study employed System-Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) panel estimation technique. The empirical results reveal that health official development assistance impacted growth positively. The institutional quality indicators impact growth negatively. However, the interaction effect of health official development assistance and institutional quality on economic growth returned positive. This implies that, institutional quality does not enhance growth alone, therefore respective governments should put in place strong institutional quality and good economic policies to improve the impact of health official development assistance on economic growth. The study concludes that a country’s institutional quality is its mechanism that directs the motives of the economic agents. Thus, West African countries with solid economic and political institutions such as strong control of corruption, political stability and absence of violence, regulatory quality stand better chance of reaping benefits from health official development assistance.