Abstract:

In recent years, most of the countries need a strong health system to improve their health outcomes. This situation makes the measurement of health system productivity a current issue in order to strengthen the health system. The aim of the study is to analyse the health system productivity of Asian countries with non-parametric methods. The study encompasses 44 Asian countries. In the study, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is utilised to measure the technical efficiency of countries' health systems; super efficiency analysis is used to rank the productive countries among themselves, and the Malmquist Total Factor Productivity Index (MTFPI) is used to understand the change in efficiency over time. In addition, regression and cluster analyses, which are parametric methods, are applied to interpret the productivity results. When the DEA findings are examined; the mean technical, allocation and scale efficiency scores of Asian countries' productivity analysis for 2016 are found to be 0.764, 0.834 and 0.922, respectively According to MTFPI findings, it is observed that the average total factor productivity of Asian countries does not increase and has a value of 0.963. It is determined that this is due to 0.2% decrease in pure efficiency change and 5.9% decrease in technology. As a result, according to DEA analysis, 72.73% of Asian countries are found to be inefficient. It might be suggested that studies should be carried out in order for countries to use health inputs efficiently in a way that does not negatively affect health outcomes, and states should formulate policies in which health expenditures can be reduced while increasing the quality in health field.

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