Equity and efficiency of maternal and child health resources allocation in Hunan Province, China

The equity of MCH resources by population size is superior by geographic area and the disproportionate distribution of the number of medical equipment (≥ CNY 10,000) and midwives between different regions was the main source of inequity. Policy-makers need to consider the geographical accessibility of health resources among different regions to ensure people in different regions could get access to available health services. More than 40% of regions in Hunan were found to be inefficient, with using more health resources than needed to produce the current amount of health services. Further investigations on factors affecting the efficiency of MCH resources allocation is still needed to guide regional health plans-making and resource allocation.