International Journal of Strategic Management and Economic studies (IJSMES) ISSN: 2791-299X http://www.ijsmes.com 668 Eradicating Malaria in Benin: Does the Productive Efficiency of Public Hospitals Matter? Calixe Bidossessi ALAKONON 1* and Alastaire Sèna ALINSATO 2 1 Laboratory of Public Economics, University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin, ORCID: 0000-0002-8830-1988 2 Laboratory of Public Economics, University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin, ORCID: 0000-0002-5307-8413 *Corresponding author Abstract: This paper analyses the Determinants of the productive efficiency of public hospitals in Benin. Using panel data collected from 12 Benin's departments over the period 2013-2017, the results show that the average efficiency score is 67.18%. This reflects significant levels of inefficiencies. In addition, estimates from a Tobit model show that, the attendance rate, the number of medical staff, and the number of nursing staff positively explain the efficiency scores. However, population density acts negatively. These results suggest that measures to improve the attendance rate and increase in health personnel as a function of density in departments are needed to increase the efficiency of public hospitals in eradicating malaria. Keywords: Productive efficiency; public hospitals; malaria Digital Object Identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7320177 Published in: Volume 1 Issue 2 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. 1. Introduction One of the important economic and social concerns of developing countries, especially in the context of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, is improving the health status of populations. Countries have been demonstrating their concern for the health system by investing more in it and by implementing adequate reforms to improve public health system efficiency. This combination of both investments and reforms suggests that the issue of the efficiency of the health sector is at the heart of the concerns of public authorities and populations (Alinsato and Alakonon, 2021; Nundouchan, 2020; Kaya Samut and Cafr, 2015; Kirigia and Asbu, 2013). For several decades, following different approaches to measuring efficiency, there has been a great deal of empirical work on determining the efficiency of health systems in all countries, particularly in developing countries to better guide economic policies. For eradicating malaria, the World Health