Air pollution is the cause of death for more than 400,000 people every year. According to the WHO it is a risk factor for heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and cancer. Increasingly, poor air quality leads to a significant worsening of the health of Europeans, resulting in costly consequences for the […]
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According to the latest WHO/Europe core health indicators for 2015, the number of physicians and nurses in the Region may not be sufficient to cover the future health needs of an ageing population, despite an increase of around 10{ddf8d179d1bf712bb2a88ff2ad95ebdf63eaa5463c845d2f093b25848387ba96} in the past 10 years. The report “Core health indicators in the WHO European Region 2015,
Finding enough health professionals for the future Read More »
Although the WHO European Region has the lowest estimated burden of foodborne diseases globally, the report “Estimates of the Global Burden of Foodborne Diseases” indicates that more than 23 million people in the Region fall ill from eating contaminated food annually, resulting in 5000 deaths. Diarrhoeal diseases account for the majority of foodborne illnesses in
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At the end of 2015, the EU implemented a decision to improve preparedness across the EU and strengthen the capacity for coordinated responses to health emergencies. This will improve health security in the EU and will help member states prepare for cross-border threates caused by communicable diseases, chemical, biological or environmental events. The Decision has
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The health systems we enjoy today, and expected medical advances in the future, will be difficult to finance from public resources without major reforms. Finding policies that can make health spending more sustainable without compromising access and quality requires effective co-operation between health and finance ministries. Prepared by both public finance and health experts, this
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According to this report, pharmaceutical spending reached around USD 800 billion across OECD countries in 2013, which is about 20{ddf8d179d1bf712bb2a88ff2ad95ebdf63eaa5463c845d2f093b25848387ba96} of total health spending on average. It also believes that health care is improving too slowly to meet the rising strains of chronic diseases. Through the most recent comparable data on the performance of health
Health at a glance 2015 Read More »
The ‘Personal Health Record’ was developed by the Migration Health Division of the International Organization for Migration with support from the European Commission and contributions from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. It is a personal document that includes all the health data and information needed for health professionals to get a comprehensive
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Methods for carrying out genetic testing are developing at an unprecedented and unforeseen rate. Simultaneously, the overall number of genes linked to rare diseases (RD) is increasing. This means that it is now possible to provide an etiological diagnosis for several thousand RD(or ‘Mendelian’ diseases). Although accurate diagnosis enables specific treatment for only a minority
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Eurostat – the European Union’s statistical authority – has increased the amount of data directly available from its online database. It has also developed an official website ‘statistics explained’ which presents statistical topics in an easily understood way. For more information on this and various health reports on ec.europa.eu
EU health statistical reports Read More »
Europeans are living longer but high levels of tobacco and alcohol consumption, combined with rising obesity could mean that the life expectancy of future generations will fall. Download the report
European Health Report 2015 Read More »
