Fiscal Space for Health in Sub-Saharan African Countries: An Efficiency Approach
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Date
2011
Authors
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Journal of Health Economics
Abstract
The study argues that potential savings from efficiency could be effective alternative to increasing health system
financing in SSA. Health system efficiency estimates were derived from the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)
and Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) and used to compute potential gains from efficiency. Data was sourced
from the World Bank's world development indicators for 45 SSA countries in 2011. The results reveal that
average potential saving in health expenditure from improved efficiency was 8.09% and 2.24% of GDP per capita
in the DEA and SFA models, respectively. Countries with relatively higher potential gains from efficiency include
Sierra Leone, Liberia, Lesotho and Swaziland. On the other hand, Cape Verde, Eritrea, Madagascar and
Mauritius recorded low potential gains from efficiency. The results imply that in the face of significant economic
challenges and burden on government budget, improving health expenditure efficiency to create some fiscal
space will be an important step.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Fiscal Space for Health, Health Expenditure, DEA, SFA