How students across the globe see their healthcare systems

· by · in Community Viewpoint. ·
Part 2 of a series of features on how business school students across the world see the role of business and firms in employee wellbeing, healthcare and healthcare systems

Part 2 of a series of features on how business school students across the world see the role of business and firms in employee wellbeing, healthcare and healthcare systems

Replying to a Council on Business & Society questionnaire, students among the Council’s member schools representing the five continents provide their answers to how they perceive their countries’ healthcare systems. Food for thought for governments and policy-makers…

Q1: How would you rate the quality of healthcare available to the average person in your country of citizenship as compared with other advanced industrialized countries?

12% of students across the globe rate their individual countries’ healthcare systems for the average citizen as the best possible when comparing them with other industrialized countries.

  • Slightly more than half (53%) of students across the globe rate their individual countries’ healthcare systems for the average citizen as above average when compared with other industrialized countries.
  • Western European students rank their health care systems for the average citizen as better than any other group surveyed. 18% of them rank their systems as the best possible, and 74% rank them as above average. No students in this region rank their system as being below average.
  • The North Americans’ rankings for their health care systems include slightly more than half (52%) at above average, a third (33%) at average, and 11% at best possible.
  • Asian students’ responses are close — between above average (40%) and average (43%).
  • The Central and South Americans and Africans rank their health care systems for the average citizen lower than any other regional group (30% and 27% respectively). These rankings (when compared with the rankings of lower than average by the Asians at 12%, the North Americans at 4% and the Western Europeans at 0%) indicate a more negative view of their systems for the average citizen.

Q2: How do you feel about the trajectory of the value provided by the healthcare system in your country as compared with other advanced industrialized countries?

Value means the quality of outcomes as compared with the funds (both public and private) spent to reach those outcomes. Students were given three choices: pulling head, keeping pace or falling behind.

61%: North American students have the most pessimistic view, voicing the opinion that their countries’ healthcare systems are falling behind others.

  • The Western Europeans are the most positive with slightly over half (54%) ranking their health care systems as keeping pace with other countries.
  • Across the globe, almost half (46%) of students feel their countries’ health care systems are keeping pace with other advanced, industrialized countries, but there are clear regional differences.
  • The Asian and African students follow closely behind the Western European view with 45% in both groups indicating their systems are keeping pace.
  • More than half of the Central and South Americans respondents feel their systems are falling behind (57%).
  • Only 5% of the North Americans indicate that their systems are pulling ahead, the lowest of any survey group. They are close in ranking to the Central and South American view on this which is expressed at 7%. The Western European, Asian and African students’ rankings of their countries’ health care system as pulling ahead are close at (16%, 17% and 18% respectively).

Q3: How much responsibility does each of the following groups have in improving the value provided by the healthcare system in your country of citizenship?

Value means the quality of outcomes as compared with the funds spent to reach those outcomes. Students were given six groups: academic institutions, entrepreneurs, individual consumers, government, NGOs/nonprofits, and the private sector.

37% of students place the most responsibility for improving the value of healthcare on their governments, followed by an expectation of help by the private sector (20%) and academic institutions (16%).

There are clear regional differences in expectations of which group is responsible for health care system improvements.

  • Students from Asia, Africa and Western Europe have the highest expectation of their governments (40%, 39% and 38% respectively).
  • The North Americans have significantly higher expectation of the private sector (28%) when compared to the other regional responses (Asia 16%, Central and South America 19%, Western Europe 20% and Africa 20%).
  • The Central and South Americans expect their governments to be the most responsible (25%), but then give almost equal weight to the individual consumer (19%) and the private sector (19%).
  • Asian students rank responsibility of the individual consumer (21%) above the ranking given by any other region for consumer responsibility (Central and South Americans 19% to the low of the Africans at 11%).
  • Our Asian students give more responsibility to academic institutions (21%) than do students from other regions (Western Europe 14%, Central and South Americans 17%, Africans 11% and North Americans 11%). They rank entrepreneurs (21%) closely with individual consumer responsibility (20%).

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