People have always travelled within Europe for work and leisure, although never before with the current intensity. Now, however, they are travelling for many other reasons, including the quest for key services such as health care. Whatever the reason for travelling, one question they ask is "If I fall ill, will the health care I receive be of a high standard?" This book examines, for the first time, the systems that have been put in place in all of the European Union's 27 Member States. The picture it paints is mixed. Some have well developed systems, setting standards based on the best available evidence, monitoring the care provided, and taking action where it falls short. Others need to overcome significant obstacles.
Health at a Glance: Europe 2018 presents comparative analyses of the health status of EU citizens and the performance of the health systems of the 28 EU Member States, 5 candidate countries and 3 EFTA countries.
The 2020 edition of Health at a Glance: Europe focuses on the impact of the COVID‐19 crisis. Chapter 1 provides an initial assessment of the resilience of European health systems to the COVID-19 pandemic and their ability to contain and respond to the worst pandemic in the past century.
This book provides a systematic collection of EU actors, EU policy and EU actions in global health. It answers key questions on governance of the EU and its policy processes. The book starts with an introduction to the EU as a global actor and continues to outline the historical development and the Treaty basis for health, including the Maastricht and Lisbon Treaties. It also discusses the Commission's global health communication and the subsequent Council Conclusions on global health. Both documents define EU values in global health and identify the future priorities for global health action in the EU. Four of the five priorities are then described from the perspective of a different country experience. The book also considers the opportunities for research and provides an overview of the political, legal and financial instruments available to the EU. It also explores the global health architecture and processes within which the EU is acting, namely at the WHO, in the different multilateral organizations, and in global public health international treaties and regulations. Finally, the book addresses the importance of policy coherence at a national level and provides critical viewpoint on the EU as a global health actor.The book will assist practitioners working in policy making and international negotiations affecting health, as well as students and researchers, to create a better understanding of the European Union, its role in global health, and the uniqueness and specificity of the EU as a global health actor. It provides an overview of how the EU can act in global health and outlines the intersections of health and other sectors, as well as the instruments available to the EU to act effectively at a global level. The collection of contributions in this form and from this health policy perspective are not yet found elsewhere on the market.
This fourth edition of Health at a Glance: Europe presents key indicators of health and health systems in the 28 EU countries, 5 candidate countries to the EU and 3 EFTA countries.
The world’s problems are indeed world problems: social and environmental crises, global trade and politics, and major epidemics are making public health a pressing global concern. From this constantly changing scenario, global health diplomacy has evolved, at the intersection of public health, international relations, law, economics, and management—a new discipline with transformative potential. Global Health Diplomacy situates this concept firmly within the human rights dialogue and provides a solid framework for understanding global health issues and their negotiation. This up-to-the-minute guide sets out defining principles and the current agenda of the field, and examines key relationships such as between trade and health diplomacy, and between global health and environmental issues. The processes of global governance are detailed as the UN, WHO, and other multinational actors work to address health inequalities among the world’s peoples. And to ensure maximum usefulness, the text includes plentiful examples, discussion questions, reading lists, and a glossary. Featured topics include: The legal basis of global health agreements and negotiations. Global public goods as a foundation for global health diplomacy. Global health: a human security perspective. Health issues and foreign policy at the UN. National strategies for global health. South-south cooperation and other new models of development. A volume of immediate utility with a potent vision for the future, Global Health Diplomacy is an essential text for public health experts and diplomats as well as schools of public health and international affairs.
There is no European Union health system but there is an EU health policy. The EU affects the health of its citizens, the health of people around the world, and the operation and finance of its Member States' healthcare systems in many ways, mostly for the better, and often in ways that are poorly understood. This book, a completely revised second edition of our previous volume on the subject, maps out the nature of EU health policies, their logic and reason for being, and their potential to affect the health of Europeans for the better. It is written in the belief that understanding the breadth and diversity of EU health policies, and the distinctive institutional structure that explains them, will improve our collective abilities to make policy for health in any sphere, from food to healthcare services and from occupational safety to international trade. Above all, we hope that this book makes it impossible to deny the scale and often indirect and positive impact of EU health policy. EU health policies extend far beyond the Public Health Article 168, from the environmental, social policy and consumer protection policies discussed alongside it in chapter 3, to the extensive internal market laws that have made so much beneficial EU regulatory policy, discussed in chapter 4, to the ambitious fiscal governance agenda discussed in chapter 5, which has increasingly developed a health focus. Across a broad sweep of policies from RescEU's civil protection to the regulation of pharmacies, the EU is omnipresent in health and health policy. It should be understood as such. The question is not whether we want an EU health policy, for EU health policy is inevitable. It is how it should be made and for what ends.
While there may be consensus on the broader issues of the core objectives of the health care system, expectations differ between EU countries, and European national policy-makers. This book seeks firstly to assess the impact of the enlargement process and then to analyse the challenges that lie ahead in the field of health and health policy.
