Many countries have decided to reduce the number of hospital beds. Some have succeeded by making a sustained investment in alternative facilities, but some have been so successful that they now face shortages, meaning growing waiting lists and difficulties in admitting acutely ill patients. Other countri...
Tobacco use is a leading cause of preventable premature death in the world today, claiming 1.6 million lives per year in the European Region, with 2 million projected by 2020. Although tobacco deaths are on the rise globally, in some places control policies have managed to reduce smoking. Millions of peo...
In the next twenty years, the European Union will gain 17 million people over age 65 – a 30% increase – and 5.5 million more people over age 80, a 39% increase. Disability in old age is frequent and not only lowers the quality of life of its victims, but strains society’s limited resources for assi...
Ensuring the safety of patients and personnel and improving quality have become important objectives for national health systems in developed and developing countries alike, in response to research highlighting poor quality, increasing patient expectations, and media reports. There is a general belief, s...
In the developed world, older people make up an increasing proportion of the population, and this demographic transition also affects some developing countries. In general, older people are at increased risk of disease, disability and financial and social deprivation compared to younger people in the sam...
Hepatitis C infection has been declared a global health problem. Prevalence is most common among injecting drug user populations, where up to 98% can be infected despite a low HIV prevalence. Up to 20% of those infected with hepatitis C can clear the virus, though chronic infection can lead to significan...
Homeless people have poorer physical and mental health than the general population, and often have problems obtaining suitable health care. This synthesis has critically reviewed the international literature pertaining to the health care needs of homeless people in countries with relatively well-develope...
Many disease prevention and health promotion programmes are directed at the health of children and young people because they can prevent both immediate problems (mortality and morbidity) and long-term problems. However, even where there is evidence to support such public health interventions, implementat...
Depression is a common health care problem and is largely managed in primary care, with little or no specialist input from secondary care services. The quality of care is often low, with poor recognition of the condition, inadequate prescription, poor compliance with medication and poor provision and upt...
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...
