Institutions and Hospital Efficiency in Cameroon: A Data Envelope Analysis

One of the objectives of the Cameroon Health Sector Strategy is to improve the efficient use of resources in the health sector. To accomplish this goal, the government implemented a series of reforms to improve accountability among the different stakeholders of the health sector. This paper employs data from 54 peripheral public health centre (PHC) from the Cameroon 2004 PETS to examine the extent to which the observed performances of the health sector are related to the institutional reforms. We find that the average technical efficiency score is around 0.7098 and that urban PHC perform better than rural ones. We also find that compact failures have a deterrent effect on the technical efficiency of these PHC and that client-power is an effective way of overcoming these government failures. As competition between public and private healthcare facilities has a negative effect on PHC performances, this study calls for institutional mechanisms that will reduce sorting, promote equal access to quality healthcare services between rich and poor people, and advocates for the participation of the local population in the management of PHC.