IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-03997298.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Do efficiency and equity move together? Cross-dynamics of Health System performance and Universal Health Coverage

Author

Listed:
  • Pavitra Paul

    (CSH - Centre de sciences humaines de New Delhi - MEAE - Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Yerevan State Medical University after Mkhitar Heratsi)

  • Ulrich Nguemdjo

    (AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Armel Ngami

    (AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Natalia Kovtun

    (Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv)

  • Bruno Ventelou

    (AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

Efficiency within the health system is well recognised as key for achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). However, achieving equity and efficiency simultaneously is often seen as a conflicting effort. Using 12 years of data (2003–2014) from the selection of a number of low- and lower middle-income countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Indonesia, Mongolia, Mozambique, Tajikistan, Togo, Uzbekistan and Yemen Republic), we compute an index of Universal health coverage (UHC), measure the health system's performance (HSp) and, finally, investigate the cross-dynamics of the resulting HSp and the UHC previously obtained. We find that, with the few exceptions over the statistical sample, the causality between performances of the national health system and the universal health coverage is typically bidirectional. From an empirical standpoint, our findings challenge the idea from economic orthodoxy that efficiency must precede equity in healthcare services. Rather, our findings support the view of simultaneous efforts to improve expansion of the coverage and efficiency of the health system, directing attention towards the importance of organisation of the health system in the country context.

Suggested Citation

  • Pavitra Paul & Ulrich Nguemdjo & Armel Ngami & Natalia Kovtun & Bruno Ventelou, 2022. "Do efficiency and equity move together? Cross-dynamics of Health System performance and Universal Health Coverage," Post-Print hal-03997298, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03997298
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-022-01271-9
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://amu.hal.science/hal-03997298
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://amu.hal.science/hal-03997298/document
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-022-01271-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03997298. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.