Hello Folks ...
The following exerpt is from the British Medical Journal BMJ news
section. I receive the table of content & news emails regularily. If
you are interested in receiving this information from BMJ's -> check out
their web site http://www.bmj.com
Life Expectancy Falls in Europe -> first time in 50 years!
It is interesting to note in the reference that the reason for the life
expectancy fall is attributed to "poverty, unemployment, homelessness,
excessive drinking, and smoking" and on health reforms that are too
reliant on "market forces".
BMJ 1998;317:767 ( 19 September )
News
Life expectancy falls in Europe
Adrea Mach, Geneva
Laying the blame squarely on "poverty, unemployment, homelessness,
excessive drinking, and smoking" and on health reforms that are too
reliant on "market forces," the World Health Organisation's latest
report reveals that Europe's overall health is deteriorating for the
first time in 50 years.
The report, which contains data on key indicators of health, was
released at this week's meeting of the 50 active member states of the
WHO's regional committee for Europe in Copenhagen. It shows that average
life expectancy across Europe (although still higher than in the other
WHO regions) has fallen for the first time since the second world
war--from 73.1 years in 1991 to 72.3 in 1995.
The reason for the fall is the social and economic upheaval in the newly
independent states of the former Soviet Union and the countries of
central and eastern Europe. On average, a child born in the newly
independent states can expect to live 11 years less than a child in the
European Union.
Re-emerging infectious diseases (such as malaria, diphtheria,
tuberculosis), sexually transmitted diseases (such as syphilis and
HIV/AIDS), and lifestyle mediated diseases (such as cancer,
cardiovascular disease, and illnesses related to alcohol and tobacco)
take a heavy toll. And, as the social safety net of the welfare state
dissolves, extreme poverty (affecting 120 million of Europe's 870
million people), homelessness, and other social and environmental
factors also undermine health.
However, the report states that even among the 15 countries of the
European Union there is little room for complacency as rising
unemployment and the expanding divide between rich and poor have
resulted in health problems. Also although infectious diseases such as
tuberculosis and diptheria have so far been confined mainly to countries
in the east of the region there is a risk that they will spread to
western Europe.
To tackle these problems, the WHO's regional committee for Europe is
adopting a new strategy, Health21, which sets 21 targets for the 21st
century. Arun Nanda, WHO's regional adviser for Europe, denied that this
means that the organisation has abandoned its Health For All goals (see
figure). He said that the Health21 document is the result of an
unprecedented two year consultation process to update and consolidate
the 38 regional health targets set in 1984. "It adapts the universal
Health For All principles to our rapidly changing times and region," he
said.
"The European region has changed dramatically over the last decade,"
emphasised the WHO's director general, Gro Harlem Brundtland, in her
address to the regional meeting. With 20 new members since the early
1990s, many new needs, and a disturbing trend in which "the vast
majority of rich countries decrease their development cooperation," the
World Health Assembly in May had responded with "an historic decision .
. . to increase allocations to two regions--Africa and Europe." These
resources are sorely needed in Europe, where "cardiovascular disease,
cancer, and diabetes are the top three health problems . . . and share
common risk factors--smoking, unhealthy nutrition, lack of physical
exercise, and heavy drinking," said Dr Brundtland.
In reversing these trends, universal access to high quality healthcare
services must remain "a bedrock principle," Dr Brundtland emphasised.
Market forces may have increased productivity; business may have
enhanced cost effective resource allocation, but "the private sector
will never become the key provider of primary health care or the
guarantor of securing health services to the poor . . . that is a key
responsibility for governments."
Health in Europe 1997 can be found on the World Health Organisation's
website (www.who.int/).
Debbie Bang
St. Joseph's Community Health Centre
Consumer Health Information Service
2757 King Street East
Hamilton, Ontario
L8G 5E4
(905) 573-7777 ext. 8054
(905) 573-4828 Fax
[log in to unmask]
http://www.stjosham.on.ca
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