Visualizing Economic Impact: Oral Health in Africa
Part 6 of the Speak Out series: Mapping Oral Health’s Economic Impact in the WHO African Region with Tableau.
· Overview
· Process
∘ Deciding What to Visualize
∘ Data Collection
∘ Designing the Main Chart
∘ Designing Supporting Visualizations
· Final Product
· Analysis
∘ Link to Dashboard Overview
WHO’s first-ever Global Oral Health Status Report (2022) provides a comprehensive look at the oral disease burden worldwide, including detailed country profiles that explore various aspects of oral healthcare and reveal inequalities within and across societies.
I chose to focus on the economic impact of oral health in the WHO African Region because it faces unique challenges, such as limited healthcare resources and access, making it crucial to understand the economic burden of oral health issues in the area. In this region, total direct expenditure due to oral diseases is nearly US$ 3 billion, the lowest among all WHO regions, while productivity losses from oral diseases amount to around US$ 5 billion. My Tableau dashboard visualizes how much each country spends on oral healthcare services and the productivity losses they endure due to common oral health conditions. By juxtaposing expenditure and loss, the analysis aims to leverage loss aversion — highlighting how much countries stand to lose economically if oral health issues are not effectively addressed.
Process
Deciding What to Visualize
I began by selecting key measures to analyze from the country profiles: Total Dental Healthcare Expenditure (US$ million, 2019), Per Capita Dental Healthcare Expenditure (US$, 2019), and Total productivity losses due to 5 oral diseases (US$ million, 2019). I also examined the availability of essential dental healthcare services in primary care facilities to understand the relationship between economic impact and the availability of essential services, as many oral health conditions are largely preventable.
Data Collection
I manually extracted data from the WHO African Region’s country profiles and regional summary reports, including healthcare expenditures, productivity losses, and service availability.
Designing the Main Chart
The main dual-axis chart compares total health expenditure and productivity losses across 47 countries in the African Region. This approach highlights the relationship between expenditure and productivity loss, with a tooltip providing additional economic impact insights.
Designing Supporting Visualizations
I created three supporting visualizations:
Bubble chart: A bubble chart examines population size, per capita, and total dental healthcare expenditure for the countries in the African Region. The size of each bubble represents population size. Additionally, I included total dental healthcare expenditure as a percentage of current GNI in the tooltip to offer a perspective on each country’s investment relative to its economic capacity. This data was sourced from the World Bank DataBank.
Map: A map that highlights the selected country from the main chart, displaying per capita health spending ranging from less than US$1 to up to US$50. The tooltip provides additional context by indicating whether a country has an established or draft national oral health plan or policy.
Essential Services Visualization: This visualization represents the availability of procedures for detecting, managing, and treating oral diseases in primary care facilities across the public health sector. The top section features three pie charts showing the percentage availability of each service in the region, while the bottom section lists countries offering at least one service, with colored squares indicating availability.
I used a logarithmic scale in the main dual-axis chart and the bubble chart to highlight trends and comparisons across countries.
Final Product
The final dashboard features interactive elements for a richer user experience. The main dual-axis chart is linked to the supporting visualizations, enabling users to explore relationships between expenditure, productivity losses, and service availability in detail. By clicking on a country in the main chart, users can see related data highlighted across other visualizations. Additionally, tooltips provide users with detailed information on each measure. This interactivity makes the dashboard a powerful tool for understanding the economic impact and oral health landscape in the WHO African Region.
Analysis
This dashboard highlights the direct correlation between lower spending on oral health and higher economic losses. Only 14 out of 47 countries provide all three essential services in the public health sector, showcasing limited availability. Nearly 30% of the region lacks access to any of these three essential services. Additionally, over 70% of countries in the region spend less than US$1 per person per year on oral health care. More context might be needed to understand why certain countries are struggling to provide essential services or allocate sufficient funds for oral health care.
These insights can guide policymakers to allocate more resources to oral health, recognizing the potential cost savings and productivity gains from preventive measures and improved well-being of their country’s population. By emphasizing loss aversion, we can encourage policymakers to prioritize oral health for better health outcomes and economic stability.
Link to Dashboard
Check out the interactive Oral Health and Economic Impact Dashboard on Tableau Public for a closer look at the data and insights.
Here’s how to navigate the dashboard:
- Hover over chart elements to see detailed information in tooltips.
- The main dual-axis chart is linked to other charts, so when you click on a country’s bar, the other charts will highlight relevant data.
- To reset the dashboard view, click the same country again.
- You can select multiple countries by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking.
For details about the specific measures used in this dashboard, visit the WHO report here. Access country profiles for detailed explanations and data sources.
