Health Technical Efficiency Estimation of Sub-Saharan Africa

Book excerpt: This article investigates technical efficiency of health production function and its determinants such as economic, social and environmental factors in Sub-Saharan Africa. For this purpose, a stochastic production frontier model, in which technical efficiency effects are assumed to be a function of some explanatory variables, is estimated using panel data over the period of 2000-2007. Investigation of the sources of technical inefficiency of health production function reveals that the economic and social factors are positively associated with efficiency; the environmental factor is negatively associated with efficiency. And also, technical efficiency periodically fluctuates during the period of investigation. Overall, the results suggest that government proactive approaches should be given to activities that go beyond the health system to influence the main determinants of health i.e. socioeconomic and environmental factors in preventing infectious diseases, improving life expectancy and aid populations to access available resources.