Evaluating the Financial Factors Influencing Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health in Africa

TL;DR

This study assesses healthcare system efficiency in Africa for maternal, newborn, and child health services, revealing significant inefficiencies linked to financial factors and highlighting the need for policy improvements.

Contribution

It applies Data Envelopment Analysis and Tobit regression to evaluate and identify financial and resource-related inefficiencies in African healthcare systems.

Findings

Only 26% of countries are efficient in maternal and child health services.

Financial factors negatively impact healthcare efficiency.

A large proportion of healthcare systems are inefficient, requiring policy reassessment.

Abstract

The study investigated the impact of healthcare system efficiency on the delivery of maternal, newborn, and child services in Africa. Data Envelopment Analysis and Tobit regression were employed to assess the efficiency of 46 healthcare systems across the continent, utilizing the Variable Returns to Scale model with Input orientation to evaluate technical efficiency. The Tobit method was utilized to explore factors contributing to inefficiency, with inputs variables including hospital, physician, and paramedical staff, and outputs variables encompassing maternal, newborn, and child admissions, cesarean interventions, functional competency, and hospitalization days. Results revealed that only 26% of countries exhibited efficiency, highlighting a significant proportion of 74% with inefficiencies. Financial determinants such as current health expenditures, comprehensive coverage index, and current health expenditure per capita were found to have a negative impact on the efficiency of maternal-child services. These findings underscore a marginal deficiency in technical efficiency within Africa's healthcare systems, emphasizing the necessity for policymakers to reassess the roles of both human resources and financial dimensions in enhancing healthcare system performance.