Figures released in spring 2023 show that Singapore tops a ranking of countries judged by health score index. East and South East Asia did well in the list, with Japan in second place, and South Korea, Taiwan and China making up the rest of the top five.
1. What is the health index?
The health component of the Legatum Prosperity Index measures the extent to which people are healthy and have access to the services needed to maintain good health. A score of 100 represents optimal health, which would be a population’s potential lifespan, with no health conditions nor increased risk of death. Health outcomes, health systems, illness, risk factors, and mortality rates are taken into account. Health-related behaviours, personal circumstances, and wider drivers of health are also considered.
At the head of the pack then, Singapore scored 86.9, ahead of Japan by only 0.4. Just missing out on the top five podium was Israel (6). Northern Europe did well too, taking four spots in this year’s top 10, in rank order: Norway (7); Iceland (8); Sweden (9); and Switzerland (10). The Netherlands was ranked at 11, out of 167 total entries.
2. What about the health system?
Looking at five criteria, including access to care, care procedure, administrative efficiency, equity, and health outcomes, Norway’s healthcare system was ranked first overall among the Commonwealth Fund high-income nations. The Netherlands and Australia came in second and third, respectively, while Switzerland, Canada, and the United States took the last spots.
Notably, the United States has higher-than-average health expenditure, accounting for a huge 42% of global spending on health, yet still manages to achieve lower-than-average health outcomes. It is also the only high-income developed nation without universal health coverage, which leaves around 8.4 % of the U.S. population uninsured.
3. Preparedness
Many of the countries in the health index top 10 also did well in the John Hopkins Global Health Security Index undertaken in 2021. Focusing on preparedness for future pandemic or epidemic threats, it assessed countries’ health security and capabilities using open-source data across six categories and 37 indicators. Singapore, Japan, and Iceland had all seen an improvement in their score since 2019.
According to the WHO’s (World Health Organisation) catchily-titled interim report on the “Fourth round of the global pulse survey on continuity of essential health services during the Covid-19 pandemic: November 2022–January 2023”, many countries are still experiencing post pandemic supply and demand issues. Stocks are low, demand for care is low, and worker numbers are low. Service backlogs are also being seen, especially in time-sensitive services such as screening, diagnosis and treatment of noncommunicable diseases.
Nonetheless, the WHO noted earlier in 2023 that health systems around the world had been showing the first major signs of post-pandemic recovery. On average, ongoing disruption was reported in up to a quarter of services, according to WHO data. The percentage of disrupted services improved on average from 56% in July-September 2020 to 23% in November 2022- January 2023.
