What do you think?

[assalamualaikum & salam sejahtera]

Total expenditures on health as percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Life expectancy at birth (in years), 2006.

Sources: Wang, Hong, Mark McEuen, Lucy Mize, Cindi Cisek, and Andrew Barraclough. February 2009. Private Sector Health in Indonesia: A Desk Review. Bethesda, MD: Health Systems 20/20 project, Abt Associates Inc.

Total expenditure referring to national budget that being allocate every years to the health sector. The national budget has been allocate depending to the gross domestic product. As a simple measurement, proportion of expenditure to the health and GDP can be used as universal indicator on percentage of national budget allocate to the health regardless the amount. Total expenditure is one the input of the health system.

As we can interpret the figure, Indonesia has been spent the lowest percentage of GDP to the health sector as well as Philippines and Thailand. Micronesia and Tango has spent the most percentage of GDP to the health sector. These variations happen because there are variation in health system in each country. So, health system is one of the influencing criteria to the Total Expenditure on Health and percentage of GDP in country.

Life expectancy at birth (in years) is a simple measure of the health outcomes. If the expenditure is input, the services (management) is the process, thus, the outcome can I say as a indicator of the effectiveness in the process, in this case is management. But why life expectancy at birth being use as an indicator? What the reason?

Life expectancy at birth used because it is as general indicator of the health access outcomes. If the low life expectancy, there might have a bad health access, bad health services as health is major determination of life expectancy. Good health comes from the good healthy lifestyle but on the other hands, good health can be derived from the good health services. this is the reason why life expectancy being used as indicator of the health.

Back to the graph, we can see that Malaysia has highest life expectancy at birth which is 75 years old. Where as Indonesia has the lowest life expectancy among other country in the study. Other countries is scattered in the middle.

Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines has total expenditure on health relatives similar in number which is around 3-4% of GDP. But the health outcomes can be different so much.

So, here is the conclusion. What do you think?

*Leave a comment on this. Your comment, I highly appreciated.

-tHaNk yOu-