Brussels, 04/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - Although life expectancy for Europeans is now longer than it was for previous generations, inequality is increasing in the field of health and access to quality health care. This was revealed in the third edition of the joint EU/OECD report on health in Europe, Health at a Glance: EUROPE 2014, published on Wednesday 3 December.
In a joint statement, Vytenis Andriukaitis, EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, and Angel Gurría, secretary general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, declared: “This state-of-play on Europe's health…shows that EU policies and strategies are needed to promote healthy lifestyles, protect healthy living standards and improve the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of diseases in countries that are lagging behind… Our hope is that the Health at a Glance report will help stimulate further actions so that European citizens of all socio-economic backgrounds can enjoy longer, healthier and more active lives”.
The report presents key indicators of health and health systems in 35 European countries, including EU-28, candidate countries, with the exception of Albania and the EEA countries. It indicates:
Longer life expectancy. Life expectancy in EU countries has increased by an average of five years since 1990. It is longest in Spain, Italy and France and shortest in Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria and Romania. The disparity between these two groups is around eight years. Life expectancy is also generally a few years longer for people with a high level of education compared to those with lower academic qualifications.
Inequalities borne out. Health inequalities can be illustrated when comparing the situation in different countries, as well as between regions in the same country. These disparities are mainly due to differences affecting access to healthcare and the quality of care, as well as lifestyles and individual behaviour. In the majority of EU countries, universal health care has protected access to health care during the economic crisis, with the exception of Bulgaria and Greece, where many people have lost this cover. In several other countries, this cover has been reduced and charges for patients have increased.
Healthcare quality improving. The quality of healthcare has improved despite the crisis but there are significant disparities between member states. Denmark and Sweden perform best in this area, as opposed to Hungary and Latvia's low performance in the health field.
Spending decrease. Health care spending has fallen in half of all EU countries and has stagnated in a number of other member states. On average, spending fell by 0.6% between 2009 and 2012, compared to the 4.7% rise between 2000 and 2009.
The report also highlights the fact that the number of doctors has increased overall in member states since 2000, except in France and that obesity has increased and become a serious public health problem. (IL)