June 19, 2012PLoS Medicine870 citationsOpen Access
Comparative Performance of Private and Public Healthcare Systems in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review
Key Points
- This review aims to compare the performance of private and public healthcare systems in low- and middle-income countries.
- Conducted a systematic review of studies evaluating healthcare performance in low- and middle-income contexts.
- Analyzed efficiency, accountability, and medical effectiveness of both sectors.
- Findings indicate that the private sector is not consistently more efficient or effective than the public sector.
- Public healthcare often struggles with issues related to timeliness and patient hospitality.
Abstract
Studies evaluated in this systematic review do not support the claim that the private sector is usually more efficient, accountable, or medically effective than the public sector; however, the public sector appears frequently to lack timeliness and hospitality towards patients.