Abstract:

In the development comparisons between countries, the health sector occupies an important place. In this study, it was aimed to compare the health systems efficiencies of the provinces in Azerbaijan. The years 2017, 2018 and 2019 were examined separately. 61 provinces are covered by research. Input-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) CRS technique has been used. Efficient and inefficient provinces were identified and potential improvement proposals were listed. As input variable; the number of health workers, the number of hospital beds and the number of physicians were used. Input variables are figures per 10000 people. As an output variable, the indicators of the number of births, the number of infant deaths (less than 1 year old), the number of deaths and the number of outpatient clinics were used. Output variables are figures per 1000 people. In the analysis, the inverse of the infant mortality and mortality variables (since they express a negative value) was used. The provinces that are fully efficient every 3 years are Jabrayil, Hajikabul, Xocalı, Kalbajar, Qusar, Lerik, Masalli, Saatli, Sabirabad and Yardımli. The provinces with the lowest score are Baku (30%), Shirvan (32%), Sumkayit (32%), Ganja (42%), Mingechevir (42%), Sheki (45%), Berde (47%) and Gakh (47%), respectively, when the 3-year DEA scores are averaged. It is important that the provinces of Zardab and Tovuz increase their DEA scores from 58% in 2017 to 86% and 88% respectively in 2019. Productive and efficient management of the provinces will also benefit the country's economy and development. In provinces with low efficiency, policies aimed at improving health performance need to be developed.

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