The well-established links between poor health, poor housing and poverty suggest that housing improvements in disadvantaged areas or social housing may provide a population-based strategy to improve health and reduce health inequalities. Housing improvements that reduce exposure to specific hazards may l...
Depression is a major illness with health and social effects similar to those for chronic diseases like hypertension, congestive heart failure or diabetes. The Global Burden of Disease Programme of WHO indicates that depressive disorders are among the most important causes of death and disability in both...
For many people, the hospital has come to
symbolize the modern health care system.
Yet in many countries, the role of the acute
hospital is changing, with an emphasis on
outpatient diagnosis and treatment as well as
alternatives to long-term hospital care, leading to reductions in numbers of hospital
bed...
In this policy brief, we will take a fresh look
at the hospital, and examine the questions
that policy-makers need to be asking about
its role in the health care system.
Although most health care takes places
outside hospitals, for most people, they have
come to symbolize the health care system.
The capa...
Governments are searching for ways to improve the equity, efficiency, effectiveness, and responsiveness of their health systems. In recent years there has been an acceptance of the important role of primary health care in helping to achieve these aims. However, there have been no systematic reviews on pr...
Over the last 20 years the level of private spending on health care has risen in many western European countries, leading to concern about its impact. The main channels of private spending are private health insurance policies and cost-sharing schemes in public health systems....
Europe plays a significant role in the production, trade and consumption of alcoholic beverages; it also carries a heavy social and economic burden of alcohol-related problems. Alcohol consumption is estimated to be responsible for about 10% of the total disease burden, increasing the risk of liver cirrh...
Suicide is a serious public health problem in the European Region, where rates vary from about 40 per million people (in Greece) to about 400 per million (in Hungary). Suicide rates among adolescents and young adults have also increased considerably over the last decades. Many widely-used suicide prevent...
Ageing populations are characteristic of many countries. The pattern of disease at the end of life is changing and more people are living with serious chronic circulatory and respiratory diseases as well as with cancer. More people will need help at the end of life, in a social context of changing family...
The vast majority of older people wish to remain living in their own homes. Furthermore, institutional care is costly. Consequently there are social and economic imperatives to prevent ill health and disability in older people and enable them to remain in their own homes as long as possible. Home visitin...
