Efficiency analysis of primary healthcare facilities in Afghanistan

Farhad Farewar; Khwaja Mir Ahad Saeed; Abo Ismael Foshanji; Said Mohammad Karim Alawi; Mohammad Yonus Zawoli; Sinai Irit; Wu Zeng

doi:10.1186/s12962-022-00357-0

Efficiency analysis of primary healthcare facilities in Afghanistan

Cost Eff Resour Alloc. 2022 Jun 3;20(1):24. doi: 10.1186/s12962-022-00357-0.

Authors

Farhad Farewar¹, Khwaja Mir Ahad Saeed², Abo Ismael Foshanji^{2

3}, Said Mohammad Karim Alawi², Mohammad Yonus Zawoli⁴, Sinai Irit⁵, Wu Zeng⁶

Affiliations

¹ Formerly Ministry of Public Health, Kabul, Afghanistan. ffarewar@gmail.com.
² Formerly Ministry of Public Health, Kabul, Afghanistan.
³ Ministry of Public Health, Kabul, Afghanistan.
⁴ Freelance Health Financing Consultant, Kabul, Afghanistan.
⁵ The Palladium, Washington, DC, USA.
⁶ Department of International Health, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.

Abstract

Background: Afghanistan's health system is unique in that primary healthcare is delivered by non-governmental organizations funded by multilateral or bilateral donors, not the government. Given the wide range of implementers providing the basic package of health services, there may be performance differences in service delivery. This study assessed the relative technical efficiency of different levels of primary healthcare services and explored its determinants.

Method: Data envelopment analysis was used to assess the relative technical efficiency of three levels of primary healthcare facilities (comprehensive, basic, and sub-health centers). The inputs included personnel and capital expenditure, while the outputs were measured by the number of facility visits. Data on inputs and outputs were obtained from national health information databases for 1263 healthcare facilities in 31 provinces. Bivariate analysis was conducted to assess the correlation of various elements with efficiency scores. Regression models were used to identify potential factors associated with efficiency scores at the health facility level.

Results: The average efficiency score of health facilities was 0.74 when pooling all 1,263 health facilities, with 102 health facilities (8.1%) having efficiency scores of 1 (100% efficient). The lowest quintile of health facilities had an average efficiency score of 0.36, while the highest quintile had a score of 0.96. On average, efficiency scores of comprehensive health centers were higher than basic and sub-health centers by 0.11 and .07, respectively. In addition, the difference between efficiency scores of facilities in the highest and lowest quintiles was highest in facilities that offer fewer services. Thus, they have the largest room for improvement.

Conclusions: Our findings show that public health facilities in Afghanistan that provide more comprehensive primary health services use their resources more efficiently and that smaller facilities have more room for improvement. A more integrated delivery model would help improve the efficiency of providing primary healthcare in Afghanistan.

Keywords: Data envelopment analysis; Primary healthcare; Relative technical efficiency.