Evaluating the health system financing of the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) countries using Grey Relation Analysis and Shannon Entropy

Kimia Pourmohammadi,Hamed Rahimi,Payam Shojaei,Peivand Bastani

doi:10.1186/s12962-018-0151-6

Abstract

BackgroundSufficient and sustainable financing of the health system is essential for improving the health of the community. The health systems financing of the EMR countries is facing the challenge. Assessment and ranking of healthcare financing can help identify and resolve some challenges of health systems. So, the aim of this study is to evaluate and rank the condition of the health sector financing in the EMR countries.MethodsThis study was a cross-sectional study. The data was of secondary type, extracted from the official WHO and World Bank data. The six healthcare financing indicators in a 10-year interval (2005–2014) in 19 EMR countries analyzed using Grey Relation Analysis and Shannon Entropy.ResultsOn average, the countries in the EMR region spent 4.87% of their GDP on the health sector. Jordan and Qatar allocated the highest (8.313) and the lowest (2.293) percentages of their GDP to the health sector, respectively. The results showed That Qatar was in a better condition than other EMR countries during 2005–2014 in terms of the health system financing and earned the first rank. After that, the UAE and Kuwait were ranked second and third.ConclusionsThere is a lot of inequality among the EMR countries in terms of health financing. However, our findings confirmed that only increasing the total health expenditure in a country would not improve its financing status compared to other countries, but it also depends on financing methods.

Highlights

Sufficient and sustainable financing of the health system is essential for improving the health of the community
The final results of the annual analyses, including the grey relational grade and the ranks of the countries are presented in Tables 3 and 4
Shetty suggested that the low share of health expenditures from Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in countries like Qatar could be attributed to their low population [31]

Summary

Introduction

Sufficient and sustainable financing of the health system is essential for improving the health of the community. The health systems financing of the EMR countries is facing the challenge. Assessment and ranking of healthcare financing can help identify and resolve some challenges of health systems. The aim of this study is to evaluate and rank the condition of the health sector financing in the EMR countries. Providing community health is a key element in economic growth of countries. Governments need to have powerful health systems to improve the health of their communities, one of the most important aspects of which is its financing [3]. Sufficient and sustainable financing of the health system is essential for improving the health of the community and achieving the Millennium Development Goals [4, 5].

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Results

Conclusion