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HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) – As a pandemic raged across the world, Asian economies led by Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan topped the ranking of the most efficient health care systems.
The Bloomberg Health Efficiency Index, first conducted in 2013, tracks life expectancy and medical spending to determine which health systems perform the best. This year’s results include the impact of Covid-19 on mortality and gross domestic product in 57 of the world’s largest economies.
These measures helped many Asian territories improve their position on the list, as their generally aggressive responses to the coronavirus kept cases and deaths relatively low.
Brazil and Russia joined the United States at the bottom tier, reflecting relatively low life expectancy alongside high Covid-19 mortality and weaker economic prospects.
“Efficient health systems are often found in places that have limited natural resources and therefore prioritize policies that depend on people’s potential,” said Dr. Pisonthi Chongtrakul, professor at the University of Medicine School. Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
“Success in fighting Covid-19 has come in places that were coordinated between government agencies and willing to let health experts make the decisions, which helped create clarity in public messages,” he said .
To measure efficiency during the pandemic, two adjustments were made to the original ranking formula: the 2020 table includes the one-year change in gross domestic product based on an October forecast from the International Monetary Fund, as well as the toll of Covid-19 in every economy.
For example, a 6% contraction of GDP in 2020 led to a 6-point subtraction from the total score, while a number of deaths or new confirmed cases of 100,000 deducted 11.5 points.
The United States is in the bottom 10 percent with this method, as well as with the formula used before Covid-19, which simply measured spending versus life expectancy. The low scores for the United States reflect a median average life expectancy, the world’s largest health care outlays along with the highest number of Covid-19 cases.
Using the adjusted formula for the pandemic, eight of the 10 most efficient health systems in the world are in Asia-Pacific. Singapore tops the list, followed by Hong Kong, while Taiwan, New Zealand, South Korea and Thailand outperformed many territories according to their Covid-19 statistics.
“The pandemic has underscored the fact that economic health depends on public health, which in turn depends on adequate public spending on health,” said Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Director of the World Organization for Southeast Asia. Health, in a report of December 12. .
“In normal times, every dollar invested in health produces an average return of between $ 2 and $ 4 (between $ 2.65 and $ 5.31), which can be up to 20 times higher in low- and middle-income countries,” he says. Dr. Singh. said.
The rankings of France, Spain and Peru fell the most among the 57 economies in Bloomberg’s 2020 adjusted formula survey, which includes only those with an average life expectancy of at least 70 years, a GDP per capita greater than $ 5,000 and a minimum population of five million.
India does not meet the minimum metrics, although it is among the nations most affected by the pandemic.
China, the world’s most populous, was ranked 25th using the pre-pandemic formula, but jumped to 12th when adjustments for Covid-19 were incorporated.
China was also the place that used some of the most draconian measures, from controlling people’s movements to mandatory testing, to limit cases and mortality.
All but two of the 57 economies in this index are expected to contract in 2020, according to forecasts by the International Monetary Fund, with only China and Taiwan expected to post year-on-year growth.
The average life expectancy in the United States is 79 years, having declined for several consecutive years, according to the latest data. That’s almost on par with those in the United Arab Emirates and Cuba, where per capita spending on health care is less than a tenth of US $ 10,246.
Switzerland’s spending of US $ 9,956 alone is close; however, the average Swiss lives five years longer than their American peers.
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