Inefficiencies in health expenditure result in an estimated 1–1.4% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) being wasted across various regions, presenting a significant challenge for countries striving to optimize healthcare spending. This study aims to assess the efficiency of government health expenditure in six ASEAN countries with the lowest per capita government health spending, using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. In addition, Tobit regression is employed to identify factors that influence the efficiency of government health expenditure. The results indicate that most countries have not achieved maximum efficiency scores over the years, underscoring the need for improved budget management and reforms in health policy implementation. The Tobit regression analysis reveals that economic growth, urbanization rate, and the proportion of government health expenditure in current health expenditure have a positive and significant effect on efficiency scores. This suggests that increased public investment and urban development contribute to improved efficiency in healthcare spending. Conversely, total carbon emissions have a negative impact on efficiency, emphasizing the influence of environmental factors on health system performance.

Tuberculosis has remained a persistent Indonesia health problem. With multiple government and donor initiatives to eradicate TB and its detrimental effects on Indonesia's health outcomes, the incidence of TB in Indonesia is still worsening. This study aimed to investigate the impact of health expenditure on TB incidence in Indonesia, which is one of the countries with the highest TB incidences globally. The method used is (Autoregressive Distributed Lag) to employ short-run and long-run effects using time series data from Indonesia from 2000 to 2021. The Findings demonstrate a significant inverse relationship between health expenditures (both public and private) and the incidence of tuberculosis. Increased public spending on healthcare is associated with a lower incidence of TB, both in the short and long term. Similarly, private health spending significantly contributes to TB reduction, with effects observed both immediately and over the long run. Furthermore, other variables also affect TB incidence. Higher Gini coefficients and unemployment rates are associated with increased TB incidence, while higher rates of BCG immunization and greater public effectiveness are associated with lower TB incidence.