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ARE VACCINATION SITES IN BANGLADESH SCALE EFFICIENT?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2004

Vivian Valdmanis ,
Damian Walker  and
Julia Fox-Rushby
Vivian Valdmanis
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Damian Walker
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Julia Fox-Rushby
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
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Abstract

Objectives: The overall aim of this study is to discern whether and to what degree vaccination sites exhibit constant returns to scale.

Methods: Data Envelopment Analysis is used to compare all the facilities in the sample in terms of input costs used to produce multiple outputs. The application considers the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI), which operated in Dhaka City, Bangladesh, during 1999.

Results: A preponderance of EPI sites were determined to be operating at increasing returns to scale.

Conclusions: Our findings question the applicability of cost-effectiveness analyses that assume constant returns to scale.

Keywords

ScaleEfficiencyImmunizationData envelopment analysisBangladesh
Type
RESEARCH NOTES
Information
International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , December 2003 , pp. 692 - 697
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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