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It is regularly observed that resource-rich countries perform less well socio-economically and politically than their resource-poor counterparts: the so-called “resource curse.” Several studies have shown that the poor quality of institutions is a key factor behind this curse. With this in mind, this paper examines whether the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) mitigates the negative effect of natural resources on public health spending in a panel of 35 resource-rich African countries over the period 2003–2017. Using the generalized method of moments, the results indicate that natural resources reduce public health expenditure. Furthermore, the paper shows empirically that the EITI moderates the negative effect of natural resources. This result supports the idea that the EITI, far from being a panacea, is nevertheless an effective policy program.