Performance evaluation of national healthcare systems in the prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) remain a major public health concern globally, threatening the achievement of sustainable development goal 3.4 (SDG 3.4), which seeks to reduce premature NCD-related deaths by one-third by 2030. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), improving the efficiency of NCD spending (i.e., maximizing the impact of every dollar spent on NCDs) is one of the strategic approaches for achieving SDG target 3.4. This study aims to assess the efficiency and productivity of NCDs spending in 34 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries from 2015 to 2019. Methods: The study employed the data envelopment analysis (DEA) double-bootstrap truncated and Tobit regressions, one-stage stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) model, the Malmquist productivity index (MPI), and spatial autocorrelation analysis to estimate NCDs spending efficiency, identify the context-specific environmental factors that influence NCDs spending efficiency, evaluate total productivity change and identify its components, and assess the spatial interdependence of the efficiency scores. Results: The estimated average DEA bias-corrected NCD spending efficiency score was 87.3% (95% CI: 86.2–88.5). Additionally, smoking per capita, solid fuel pollution, alcohol use, governance quality, urbanization, GDP per capita, external funding for NCDs, and private domestic funding for NCDs healthcare services were found to be significantly associated with NCDs spending efficiency. The study also revealed a decline of 3.2% in the MPI, driven by a 10.6% technical regress. Although all countries registered growth in efficiency, except for the Central Africa Republic and DR Congo, the growth in efficiency was overshadowed by the decline in technical change. Global Moran’s I test indicated the existence of significant positive spatial autocorrelation in the efficiency of NCDs spending across SSA countries. Conclusion: The study underscores the importance of efficient use of resources in NCDs treatment and prevention and increased investment in NCDs research and development in achieving the SDG target 3.4.