Assessing the Relative Efficiency of Health Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa Using Data Envelopment Analysis

Abstract

We assess the relative efficiency of health systems of 35 countries in sub-Saharan Africa using Data Envelopment Analysis. This method allows us to evaluate the ability of each country to transform its sanitary "inputs" into health "outputs". Our results show that, on average, the health systems of these countries have an efficiency score between 72% and 84% of their maximum level. We also note that education and density of population are factors that affect the efficiency of the health system in these countries.

A double bootstrap data envelopment analysis model for evaluating malaria spending efficiency in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…This means that an improvement in educational outcomes enhances malaria spending efficiency. This result coincides with those obtained in earlier empirical studies regarding health system efficiency, such as Afonso and St. Aubyn [19] and Ambapour [14].…”

“…There is extensive literature on the efficiency of health systems in SSA [13,14,15,16] and African countries [17], OECD countries [18,19,20], and World Health Organization countries [21,22,23,24,25]. These studies assess the efficiency of health systems in transforming health inputs such as healthcare labor force and hospital beds in 'producing' health outcomes in form of health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE), disability-adjusted life expectancy (DALE), and mortality outcomes.…”

Effects of healthcare financing policy tools on health system efficiency: Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa

“…The significantly positive coefficients of employment and education, as indicators of the overall economic well-being and social factor, respectively, are as expected and in line with Self and Grabowski [ [ 59 ]] and Ambapour [ [ 12 ]]. The negative impact of population age structure (in the TRE model) is consistent with previous studies (see Refs.…”

“…With higher wages and more stable work as a result of education, families are better able to afford quality healthcare [ [ 49 ]]. Additionally, studies show that adults who are less educated are more likely to engage in unhealthy practices such as smoking, eating unwholesome diet, and failing to exercise [ 12 , 50 , 51 ] found a strong association between education and health system efficiency in producing better health outcomes. Therefore, education (EDU) is expected to have a positive sign.…”

“…The impact of these policies on the efficiency of the health systems in delivering better health outcomes in SSA, however, has not received much attention in the empirical literature. The few existing health system efficiency studies in SSA focused on the impact of socio-economic and demographic factors on health system efficiency [ [10] , [11] , [12] ]. There is no empirical evidence on the effects of healthcare financing policy tools such as social health insurance on health system efficiency in SSA.…”