Resource Allocation Phenomenon in a Decentralized Environment

Submitted to APACPH Newsletter February 2008, vol.1.
by Asnawi Abdullah

Many countries in the Asia Pacific region have implemented decentralized health services to region or district level. The degree of decentralization might be different from one country to another. However, it seems there are similarities in how budgets are allocated to different programmes and services. In theory, under a decentralized health system, with local government having a range of options in planning, financing and service delivery, resource allocation becomes better in terms of both technical and allocative efficiency. Under decentralization, district level has more discretion to allocate the budget as their own priority without any obligations to follow rigid guidelines from a central government.