1. Introduction

In early 2020, humanity faced the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most significant challenges of recent decades, making it necessary to build resilient, flexible and adaptable structures with institutions that would provide an effective and efficient response while being able to overcome traumatic situations, such as the one generated by the virus, with the most negligible social impact. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic when a highly dangerous transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus became evident (^{Pan American Health Organization [PAHO, 2021]}). Control measures were the primary basis for prevention: reduction of its spread through hand hygiene and when coughing, standard contact and airborne transmission precautions, and establishing of isolation measures.

At the end of April 2020, more than 3.1 million cases and 217,132 deaths were reported worldwide. By August, these figures had reached 21.1 million cases and 750,660 deaths. In April 2021, the number of infections was 147.2 million and 3.1 million deaths. In May of the same year, the figures increased alarmingly, with nearly 176 million cases worldwide and almost 4 million deaths. These figures show a highly transmissible infectious process, easily transmitted by nasal or oral particles, which brought the planet to a standstill (see Table 1).

Against this background, there was widespread ignorance about the causes, consequences and, above all, how health institutions responded and offered the necessary reassurance to the population. The scientific community warned that the presence of pandemics will be more frequent and their consequences more devastating, with elevated levels of contagion and higher mortality (^{IPBES, 2020}; ^{Han et al., 2015} and ²⁰¹⁶; ^{Menachery et al., 2015}; ^{Allen et al., 2017}). It is estimated that about 1.7 million undiscovered viruses exist, of which more than 850,000 are capable of human transmission (^{IPBES, 2020}). A bleak future seems imminent, making it necessary to direct efforts towards prevention in the field of health.

The healthcare service understood as a right, has constituent elements that the State should guarantee in order to satisfy one of the basic needs, as well as social justice and equality (^{Vanhulst, 2015}). In this respect, the WHO and the PAHO have developed a series of indicators that determine minimum thresholds for healthcare services to correspond with effectiveness in care. The most usual are current public expenditure on health per capita and out-of-pocket expenses.¹ It has also been found that for every thousand inhabitants, 2.28 health professionals and 2.4 beds are required in the health system in order to provide a minimum coverage of 80% of care (^{WHO, 2006}).

Table 2 shows that Argentina and Brazil have the highest per capita health spending in South America. In contrast, Ecuador, Paraguay and Venezuela show a higher percentage of out-of-pocket spending, although this has decreased in Venezuela.

Nevertheless, efficiency parameters are not established; instead, inefficiencies of between 20 and 40% of the resources allocated to the health field have been identified (^{WHO, 2010}).

Efficiency should be conceived as the capacity to produce with limited resources measured in the amount of goods and services that can be obtained for each unit of resource used (^{Mankiw, 2012}). Meanwhile, ^{Hurley (2000)} indicates that it is essential to discuss the efficiency of a service, good or activity if an explicit objective has been articulated against which this efficiency can be evaluated.

^{Farrell (1957)} states the need to measure production efficiency in a given industry to understand how much that production unit can increase its product simply by increasing its efficiency without absorbing more resources than it has available.

^{Hurley (2000)} and ^{Cid et al. (2016)} define TE as that which is achieved by producing a given output with the minimum use of inputs, understood as the adequate and optimal use of resources in production, with various combinations of inputs to achieve a given output. ^{Soto and Casado (2019)} contribute by indicating that TE is achieved by obtaining the maximum result from given resources, or that these results are at least as high as the opportunity cost or, if producing the same results, a smaller amount of resources is consumed.

From a sample of 32 public hospitals in Chile from 2011-2013, ^{Santelices (2017)} found an average efficiency of 77%. Another sample of 40 units in 2012 reported an efficiency of 86%. In Colombia, ^{Fontalvo (2017)} indicates that 12 of the 17 units analyzed present optimal efficiency. Meanwhile, ^{Meza (2018)} observed that only 14.5% of the 29 Colombian entities studied were 100% efficient.

^{Rodriguez et al. (2015)} measured the TE of four clinics specializing in neurological diseases in Cuba, finding a mean scale efficiency of 66.8% in 2012 and 78.7% in 2013. In Ecuador, ^{Suin et al. (2021)} found higher TE in the public rather than in the private health system. However, they warn that this could be due to the very nature of the private service reflected in the variables used.

Multinational studies, such as that of ^{Maza and Vergara (2017)}, which analyze the efficiency of high-complexity hospitals and clinics in Latin America during the period 2010-2011, found that 65% of the units were totally efficient and 48% experienced growth in their productivity due to increases in their efficiency and technological improvements. ^{Sanmartín et al. (2019)} quantified the relative efficiency of total health spending in 62 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), finding that in 2014, the most efficient countries in LAC were Chile, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Jamaica, and in the OECD, Japan, Luxembourg and Turkey.

The Inter-American Development Bank (^{Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo [IDB], 2018}), which measures efficiency levels of healthcare systems in LAC and middle-income OECD countries, found that Latin America shows significant variations in terms of efficiency, with Chile being the best-ranked country (eighth place), together with most OECD countries in the top 25%. Meanwhile, another 22 of the 27 countries are located in the bottom half of average efficiency. Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Panama and Suriname were the lowest-performing countries.

Regarding the use of variables in Table 3, different studies have employed Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in the analysis of TE. This methodology is used with diverse types of data because of its excellent versatility.

Against this background, this study aims to determine a causal relationship and the incidence of TE in healthcare systems in their response to and management of mortality caused by the worldwide presence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In terms of formality, this document is divided into five sections. The first is the introductory section with a review of the literature. The second section explains the methodologies used and a complete reference of the data that served as the basis for the analysis. The third section presents the results obtained and their interpretation and contribution based on the research. The fourth section discusses the results and refers to the limitations and new research alternatives from other perspectives and methodological resources. Finally, the fifth section presents the conclusions of the research.

2. Materials and methods

3. Results

4. Discussion

The TE shows values with expected behavior. There is a more significant difference when the calculations are carried out using CRS or VRS models, although this difference is not greater. Likewise, when the input is changed, the results are not subject to significant alterations. In the sample of countries with a health expenditure of less than US$500, Bangladesh is the only one that maintains a TE of 100% in all the proposed scenarios. The same occurs with Singapore and Japan in the sample of countries with a health expenditure of more than US$500.

Meanwhile, in the regression analysis, the tests were performed for the three types of samples using OLS, GLS, and 2SLS, and the results are homogeneous and statistically significant. The independent variable Deaths due to Covid is inverse to the dependent variable TE. However, it is worth mentioning that, for countries with health expenditure below US$500, the deductions are not reliable.

The results finally translate into a 1% increase in the TE of the countries' healthcare systems taken as a sample, which would reduce deaths due to COVID-19 by between 61 and 127 per 100,000 inhabitants. These results are supported when all countries are sampled: the regressor of the independent variable maintains its inverse relationship and statistical significance, which indicates that the values and, above all, the deductions that can be obtained based on these results are statistically reliable.

The results also show the importance of maintaining high percentages of TE to meet the population's needs. ^{Gómez et al. (2019)} indicate that positive changes in the levels of TE will lead to productivity increases in the operational and financial factors of the national healthcare systems of 28 countries of the European Union.

Similarly, the ^{IDB (2018)} suggests that several Latin American countries could significantly improve health output indicators while maintaining their current budget stable. The analysis indicates that, if efficient, the region would lengthen its life expectancy by four years; under-five mortality could be reduced by 10 deaths per 1,000 live births; Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) lost due to all causes could be reduced on average by 6.1432 per 100,000 inhabitants; specialized care during childbirth could be improved by 4.4% and DTP² immunization rates could reach 96.9%.

Furthermore, the R2 is relatively low and the model cannot adjust to the dependent variable. However, although the model does not reliably explain the variability of the data, the causes of mortality are based on the specific health situations of each person, resulting in the logical value of the R2.

As for the control variables, when only three are used, Out-of-Pocket Expenditures show a direct relationship with deaths due to COVID-19 and their value is reliable. In this case, their behavior could be explained by the fact that a deficient health system causes higher Out-of-Pocket Expenditures. Finally, when five control variables are used, the Malnutrition Index maintains statistical significance, although with an inverse relationship to the dependent variable, which could be explained by health factors specific to each person and the relationship with COVID-19.

Given the lack of complete, updated and relevant data, the study has a major limitation given that there is no quality information available, especially in Latin American and African countries and, in some cases, even in first-world countries. This makes it challenging to work with a larger number of variables to compare results.

By its very essence, the DEA also presents the difficulty of contrasting hypotheses since it does not have statistical characteristics such as the presence of error, translating any deviation from the data into ineffective behavior of the DMU. However, it is a valid method used in scientific research.

As for the regression analysis, working with few observations results in an insignificant R2. The scarce knowledge and heterogeneous nature of the dependent variable means that the model cannot provide a reliable explanation. However, it must be understood that the explained variable will depend on medical factors, which have also failed to provide a conclusive explanation.

In terms of scope, the study does not perform a slacks analysis, so it does not know exactly which variables are a source of inefficiencies. Finally, mortality rates by age group have not been standardized in order to determine the level of response to this condition in each country and to be able to compare them.

5. Conclusions and recommendations

The study established a relationship between deaths from COVID-19 and the TE of healthcare systems. The better the use of available resources, the more prepared countries will be to face situations such as those that occurred in the last two years. The study shows that a 1% increase in the TE of the healthcare systems of the countries analyzed would reduce deaths from COVID-19 by between 61 and 127 per 100,000 inhabitants.

It should also be noted that the diversity of the countries, the structure of the healthcare systems, the physical conditions of the people, the behavior and vertiginous mutation of the virus, as well as the structure and economic development of the States, played a dominant role in the effectiveness of the fight against the pandemic. The main challenge initially was to attenuate and contain the accelerated advance of the epidemic.

Extensive literature indicates that pandemics will continue. There is a high probability that humanity will again face other health emergencies, which are expected to be mostly catastrophic and devastating. Given this scenario, a new approach and orientation of public policies in the field of health economics is necessary, acting from a more proactive viewpoint, preparing and improving the response capacity of healthcare systems in order to face, with minimum impact, the consequences of these new epidemics.

It is important to provide policymakers with the technical tools to help them make decisions that can prevent and correct the consequences of situations such as the presence of COVID-19, especially in terms of the use and destination of capital. It is not only a matter of increasing or correctly allocating more resources to the health field -at least in the first instance-, but also of improving their destination and use.

Efficient spending is therefore essential, not only to guarantee people's right to free access and high levels of healthcare coverage but also to ensure that healthcare services and systems respond in an efficient and timely manner to the needs and requirements of the population, being resilient and managing to overcome adverse and highly vulnerable situations, such as the recent pandemic, with the least possible impact.

It is imperative to start thinking about a new way of taking action. The purpose is not to obtain more available resources but to obtain more of the resources available -especially because of their scarcity as opposed to unlimited needs- by being cautious, pragmatic and flexible in prioritizing spending and allocating resources.