This research proposal is concerned wlth the linkages between health and economic growth. We want to study theoretically  and empirical!y  the impact of health on the accumulation of  human capital and, through this channel,  on economic  growth and wealth. Past research  has provided some lnformation on relationships between hea!th and economic growth and  wealth  (Bloom et  ai.,  2000;  2001;  2004; 2005;  Van  Zon  and Muysken, 2000; Wei, 2005), but much remalns to be studied, While human capital  is sometimes  narrowly defined  in  terms of education,  in recent years health has increasingly been recognized as a key component  of human capital (UNDP  2008). Following Mankiw, Romer e Weil (1992),a large economic growth literature recognized the importance of factors such as hea!th and nutrition, broadening the analysis of human capita!. Good health raises leveis of human capital, and this has a positive effect on individual productivity and on economic growth rates. Better health increases workforce productivity by reduclng incapacity, debility, and the number of days lost to slck leave, and increases the opportunitles an individual has of obtalning better paid work. Further, good health helps to forge improved levels of education by lncreasing leve!s of schooling and scholastic performance. There is also an important positive spillover effect in that the resources that would  otherwise  be used for preventatlve health treatments are freed for alternative uses or in cushioning  the  effects of other negative externalíties  such as poverty  within the nation. Given the importance of health, the sustainability of health-sector financing has been of critical concern to many researchers and policy makers The health systems managed by the public sector have been in efficient, hadhigh leveis of debtand were unresponsiveto users: hence they needed reform. A key challenge faced by governments was how to simultaneously address the deteriorating financial conditions in ...