Medical workers are taking residents to a Covid-19 testing center in Hong Kong on December 10.
Photographer: Roy Liu / Bloomberg
Photographer: Roy Liu / Bloomberg
As a pandemic devastated the world, the Asian economies led by Hong Kong and Singapore came to the forefront of a ranking of the most effective health care systems.
The Bloomberg Health Efficiency Index, first conducted in 2013, tracks life expectancy and medical spending to determine which health care systems have the best results. 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 have helped many Asian territories improve their position on the list, as their generally aggressive responses to coronavirus have kept cases and deaths relatively low. Brazil and Russia joined the US at the lower level, reflecting relatively low life expectancies, along with high Covid-19 mortality and weaker economic prospects.
“Effective health systems are often in places that have limited natural resources and therefore prioritize policies that are based on people’s potential,” he said. Pisonthi Chongtrakul, Professor at the Faculty of Medicine at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
“Success in fighting Covid-19 came in places that coordinated between government bodies and were willing to let health experts fire, which helped create clarity in public messages,” he said.
To measure efficiency during the pandemic, two adjustments were made to the initial ranking formula: Table 2020 includes a one-year change in GDP based on an October forecast by the International Monetary Fund, as well as the Covid-19 tax on each economy.
For example, a 2020 GDP contraction of 6% led to a 6-point drop in the total score, while a number of deaths or new confirmed cases of 100,000 fell by 11.5 points.
The US is among the lowest 10% of this method, as well as the formula used before Covid-19, which simply measured life expectancy spending. America’s low scores reflect an average life expectancy, the world’s highest health care spending, along with the highest number of Covid-19 cases.
Residents are queuing at a Covid-19 test center set up on the grounds of a Hong Kong residential property in early December.
Photographer: Roy Liu / Bloomberg
Using the pandemic-adjusted formula, eight of the world’s 10 most effective health systems are in Asia Pacific. Singapore and Hong Kong top the list, while Taiwan, New Zealand, South Korea and Thailand overtook many territories based on their Covid-19 statistics.
“The pandemic has stressed that economic health is dependent on public health, which in turn is dependent on adequate public spending on health,” Poonam Khetrapal Singh, director of the World Health Organization in Southeast Asia, said in a December 12. report.
“In normal times, every dollar invested in health produces an average return of between 2 and 4 USD, which can be up to 20 times higher in low- and middle-income countries, ”Singh said.
A visitor arrives at the fast tent of the Covid-19 test center in Paris in early November.
Photographer: Adrienne Surprenant / Bloomberg
The ranking 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, with GDP per capita exceeding 5,000. USD and a minimum population of 5 million. India does not meet the minimum values, although it is among the countries most affected by the pandemic.
China, the world’s most populous territory, ranked 25th using the pre-pandemic formula, but jumped to 12th when adjustments for Covid-19 were incorporated. The epicenter of the virus 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.
Read more: The best and worst places in the Coronavirus era
All but two of the 57 economies in this index are expected to shrink in 2020, according to International Monetary Fund forecasts, with only China and Taiwan expected to grow year-on-year.
The average life expectancy in the US is 78.5 years, after declining for several consecutive years, according to the latest data. This is almost on par with those in the UAE and Cuba, where per capita spending on health care is lower than the tenth of US $ 10,246. Switzerland’s spending alone, at $ 9,956, is close – however, the average Swiss lives five years longer than their American counterparts.
To access Bloomberg’s ranking of health effectiveness, click here.
– With the assistance of Alexandre Tanzi and Margo Towie
(spreadsheet updates)