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Now showing items 21-30 of 33
Health: a vital investment for economic development in eastern Europe and central Asia
(2007)
The breakdown of the socialist system in the late 20th century gave some of the countries affected the opportunity to establish the prerequisites for sustainable economic development and improved human welfare. For others, however, the dramatic economic decline resulted in widespread poverty. Despite some improvement since, over 60 million people remain poor and over 150 million are economically vulnerable in the countries of central and eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. This report is the first comprehensive effort to ...
Health care outside hospital: accessing generalist and specialist care in eight countries
(WHO/EURO:2006-649-40384-51405, 2006)
This policy brief is intended to provide a basis for a more informed discussion on the future of health care outside the hospital. It aims to describe a broad spectrum of models by exploring the arrangements that are in place in selected countries. Themes include: accessing generalist (primary) and specialist care; the relationship between patient choice and user charges; and the scope of services provided by general practitioners, specialists and other providers. Examples are from Australia, Denmark, England, Finland, France, the Netherlands, ...
The health care workforce in Europe: learning from experience
(2006)
A trained and motivated workforce, with appropriate skills, a commitment to life-long learning and adequate rewards is a prerequisite for high-performing health systems. Yet, for many countries, the challenge of getting this right often proves too much. How do you ensure the right skill-mix, so that the appropriate staff are in the right places to meet the needs of populations with changing health needs? How do you cope with health professionals' unprecedented levels of international mobility, when minor changes in working conditions in another ...
Patient mobility in the European Union: learning from experience
(2006)
People travel across Europe with greater ease than ever before. On much of the Continent, border checks are a thing of the past. Budget airlines make possible cheap holidays abroad, and some people even choose to work in one country and spend their weekends in another. Finally, more and more people from northern Europe are retiring to the warmth of the Mediterranean. All these developments have implications for health systems. The freedom of movement granted to Europe's citizens by European treaties can only become reality if people know that ...
Cross-border health care in Europe
(2005)
This policy brief provides a review of current information and issues relating to cross-border health care in Europe. Following an overview of current patterns of patient mobility, the policy brief looks in turn at the legal framework for mobility, the financial implications, approaches to quality monitoring and related patients’ rights and liability issues.
Health care systems in transition: Kyrgyzstan
(2005)
The Health Care Systems in Transition (HiT) profiles are country-based reports that provide an analytical description of a health care system and of reform initiatives in progress or under development. HiTs seek to provide relevant comparative information to support policy-makers and analysts in the development of health care systems and reforms in the countries of the European Region and beyond. The HiT profiles are building blocks that can be used: to learn in detail about different approaches to the organization, financing and delivery of ...
Health systems in transition: learning from experience
(2004)
The period following the break-up of the Soviet Union has brought enormous political and socioeconomic change to the WHO European Region. The health sector has not been spared the effects of transition, and the countries emerging from the process have each engaged to varying degrees in health system reform. It is at last possible to reach some judgement about how this process has unfolded, to identify successes and failures, and to understand better the scale and nature of the remaining challenges. This book draws on the experience and lessons ...
Making decisions on public health: a review of eight countries
(2004)
Smoking, hazardous drinking, fast driving, unhealthy eating, unsafe sex. These are just some of the things that pose a threat to the health of populations everywhere. Although they are to some extent under the control of individuals, the decisions that people make are powerfully shaped by societal, commercial and other forces. If these threats to health are to be tackled effectively, then there must be an effective societal response, involving governments at all levels, civil society and international agencies. The diversity of policies that ...
Configuring the hospital in the 21st century
(2004)
This policy brief takes a fresh look at the hospital. It examines the questions that policy-makers need to be asking about its role in the health care system, including: Is the hospital a useful unit for planning? Which health care services should the hospital provide?
Reducing hospital beds: what are the lessons to be learned?
(2004)
This policy brief looks at how hospital bed capacity has changed in Europe since the 1990s and at possible explanations for these changes. It considers underlying issues on the topics of hospital bed capacity, the ageing population and bed requirements, reducing the need for hospital beds, the impact of bed closures, and gaps in the evidence.