THE TRIPARTITE NEXUS: AIR POLLUTION, ECONOMIC GROWTH, AND CORRUPTION CONTROL AS DETERMINANTS OF UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE
Abstract
Purpose: This study investigates the tripartite effects of air pollution, economic growth, and control of corruption on progress toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC), addressing critical gaps in understanding how environmental, economic, and governance factors interact to shape global health outcomes. Research Benefit: By quantifying synergistic pathways, this research provides policymakers with evidence to design integrated strategies advancing Sustainable Development Goal 3 (UHC). It identifies institutional thresholds where economic growth translates into health gains and reveals avoidable UHC erosion from unmitigated pollution, benefiting 4.5 billion people lacking essential health services (WHO & World Bank, 2023). Methodology: Using cross-sectional data from 114 countries (World Development Indicators, 2019), we employ Ordinary Least Squares regression to analyze impacts of PM2.5 air pollution (μg/m³), GDP growth, and Worldwide Governance Indicators’ corruption control metric on UHC service coverage. Results: The model explains 62.3% of UHC variance. Air pollution significantly reduces UHC; control of corruption exhibits the strongest positive effect. Counterintuitively, economic growth correlates negatively with UHC, indicating that GDP expansion without robust institutions exacerbates health inequities. Recommendations & Implications: Results necessitate reorienting development paradigms: 1) Integrate pollution abatement into UHC financing (e.g., carbon tax revenues funding primary care); 2) Prioritize anti-corruption reforms in health governance to achieve institutional thresholds (WGI > 0.75) where economic growth positively impacts UHC; and 3) Adopt green industrialization policies to decouple growth from pollution. Failure to address these interconnected drivers risks trapping nations in "high-pollution poverty cycles," undermining global health equity. Future research should examine subnational disparities and longitudinal dynamics post-COVID-19.
Keywords: Universal Health Coverage (UHC); Air Pollution; PM2.5; Economic Growth Paradox; Control Of Corruption; Environmental Health Governance; Sustainable Development Goals (SDG); Institutional Economics; Health Equity; Cross-National Regression; Health Financing; Environmental Kuznets Curve; Green Industrialization
