The only way is up: making Taiwan a better place to have a family
The only way is up: making Taiwan a better place to have a family
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Value-based healthcare in Sweden: Reaching the next level
The need to get better value from healthcare investment has never been more important as ageing populations and increasing numbers of people with multiple chronic conditions force governments to make limited financial resources go further.
These pressures, along with a greater focus on patient-centred care, have raised the profile of VBHC, especially in European healthcare systems. Sweden, with its highly comprehensive and egalitarian healthcare system, has been a leader in implementing VBHC from the beginning, a fact that was underscored in a 2016 global assessment of VBHC published by The Economist Intelligence Unit.
This paper looks at the ways in which Sweden has implemented VBHC, the areas in which it has faced obstacles and the lessons that it can teach other countries and health systems looking to improve the value of their own healthcare investments.
Breast cancer patients and survivors in the Asia-Pacific workforce
With more older women also working, how will the rising trend of breast cancer survivorship manifest in workplace policies, practices and culture? What challenges do breast cancer survivors face when trying to reintegrate into the workforce, or to continue working during treatment? How can governments, companies and society at large play a constructive role?
This series of reports looks at the situation for breast cancer survivors in Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. It finds that while progress has been made, more needs to be done, particularly in South Korea, where public stigma around cancer remains high.
The Cost of Silence
Cardiovascular diseases levy a substantial financial toll on individuals, their households and the public finances. These include the costs of hospital treatment, long-term disease management and recurring incidence of heart attacks and stroke. They also include the costs of functional impairment and knock-on costs as families may lose breadwinners or have to withdraw other family members from the workforce to care for a CVD patient. Governments also lose tax revenue due to early retirement and mortality, and can be forced to reallocate public finances from other budgets to maintain an accessible healthcare system in the face of rising costs.
As such, there is a need for more awareness of the ways in which people should actively work to reduce their CVD risk. There is also a need for more primary and secondary preventative support from health agencies, policymakers and nongovernmental groups.
To inform the decisions and strategies of these stakeholders, The Economist Intelligence Unit and EIU Healthcare, its healthcare subsidiary, have conducted a study of the prevalence and costs of the top four modifiable risk factors that contribute to CVDs across the Asian markets of China, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
Download the report to learn more.
Healthy profession, healthy patients: The state of clinical nutrition in Pakistan
Healthy profession, healthy patients: The state of clinical nutrition in Pakistan
Food insecurity, a condition in which households lack access to adequate food because of limited money or other resources, afflicts almost 37% of households in Pakistan. As a result of this insecurity, malnutrition— when a person’s diet does not contain the right amount of nutrients—is commonplace. About half of adult women in Pakistan suffer from anaemia, over a third of children are stunted, and about 30% of under 5-year-olds are underweight.
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Value-based healthcare in Sweden: Reaching the next level
The need to get better value from healthcare investment has never been more important as ageing populations and increasing numbers of people with multiple chronic conditions force governments to make limited financial resources go further.
These pressures, along with a greater focus on patient-centred care, have raised the profile of VBHC, especially in European healthcare systems. Sweden, with its highly comprehensive and egalitarian healthcare system, has been a leader in implementing VBHC from the beginning, a fact that was underscored in a 2016 global assessment of VBHC published by The Economist Intelligence Unit.
This paper looks at the ways in which Sweden has implemented VBHC, the areas in which it has faced obstacles and the lessons that it can teach other countries and health systems looking to improve the value of their own healthcare investments.
Breast cancer patients and survivors in the Asia-Pacific workforce
With more older women also working, how will the rising trend of breast cancer survivorship manifest in workplace policies, practices and culture? What challenges do breast cancer survivors face when trying to reintegrate into the workforce, or to continue working during treatment? How can governments, companies and society at large play a constructive role?
This series of reports looks at the situation for breast cancer survivors in Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. It finds that while progress has been made, more needs to be done, particularly in South Korea, where public stigma around cancer remains high. The Cost of Silence
Cardiovascular diseases levy a substantial financial toll on individuals, their households and the public finances. These include the costs of hospital treatment, long-term disease management and recurring incidence of heart attacks and stroke. They also include the costs of functional impairment and knock-on costs as families may lose breadwinners or have to withdraw other family members from the workforce to care for a CVD patient. Governments also lose tax revenue due to early retirement and mortality, and can be forced to reallocate public finances from other budgets to maintain an accessible healthcare system in the face of rising costs.
As such, there is a need for more awareness of the ways in which people should actively work to reduce their CVD risk. There is also a need for more primary and secondary preventative support from health agencies, policymakers and nongovernmental groups.
To inform the decisions and strategies of these stakeholders, The Economist Intelligence Unit and EIU Healthcare, its healthcare subsidiary, have conducted a study of the prevalence and costs of the top four modifiable risk factors that contribute to CVDs across the Asian markets of China, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
Download the report to learn more.
Medidas globales de financiación para eliminar el cáncer de cuello uterino: financiación de servicios de prevención secundaria en países con bajos recursos
Medidas globales de financiación para eliminar el cáncer de cuello uterino: financiación de servicios de prevención secundaria en países con bajos recursos
El cáncer de cuello uterino es el cuarto cáncer que se detecta con mayor frecuencia en mujeres en todo el mundo, aunque es uno de los tipos de cáncer que mejor se pueden tratar y más se pueden prevenir si se detectan a tiempo. La morbilidad y la mortalidad del cáncer de cuello uterino afectan de forma dispar a las mujeres de países con unos ingresos bajos o entre bajos y medios, y aquellas de los países más pobres. En 2020, la Organización Mundial de la Salud
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Projet global de financement pour l’élimination du cancer du col de l’utéru...
Le cancer du col de l’utérus est le quatrième cancer le plus courant chez les femmes à travers le monde. Pourtant, il s’agit de l’un des cancers les plus faciles à prévenir et à traiter en cas de détection précoce. Les femmes vivant dans les pays à revenu faible ou intermédiaire et les femmes les plus défavorisées au sein de tous les pays ont beaucoup plus de probabilités de développer un cancer du col de l’utérus et d’en mourir. En 2020, l’Organisation Mondiale de la Santé (OMS) a lancé une initiative mondiale visant à éliminer le cancer du col de l’utérus en tant que problème de santé publique, avec des objectifs intermédiaires à atteindre d’ici 2030.
Alors qu’il existe des défis dans les contextes de faible revenu au regard de la viabilité et la pérennité des financements des efforts liés à cette priorité de santé publique, l’ambition d’élimination représente une nouvelle opportunité d’adopter une approche globale. Il s’agira dès lors de s’appuyer sur la couverture de santé universelle et d’envisager des modes de financement et d’interventions innovants pour développer progressivement les services d’élimination de la maladie dans chaque pays.
Ce rapport de The Economist Intelligence Unit aborde les principaux défis liés au financement pour l’élimination du cancer du col de l’utérus dans des contextes de faible revenu. Les priorités listées ci-dessous peuvent servir à interpeller les dirigeants politiques ou les organismes de financement :
Recueillir des données locales pour mieux documenter la conception et les prises de décisions concernant les mécanismes de financement en santé. Dans chaque pays, il est indispensable de disposer d’une connaissance approfondie de l’épidémiologie et des freins qui pourraient s’opposer au déploiement du dépistage du cancer du col de l’utérus et, si nécessaire, à l’accès aux traitements, afin de donner la priorité aux solutions les plus efficaces et les plus durables. Ces analyses doivent aussi permettre d’identifier et de résoudre les problèmes de financement et de distribution des ressources au sein des systèmes de santé.
Déterminer les capacités de financement au niveau national dans chaque pays et la disponibilité de services de qualité à l’aide d’outils existants d’évaluation et de projection des coûts pour concevoir des programmes d’élimination adaptés et réalistes. À ce titre, des solutions adaptées aux possibilités et aux ressources de chaque pays seront plus pérennes. Les outils actuels d’évaluation et de projection des coûts doivent être utilisés en priorité pour identifier les opportunités et les insuffisances afin de pouvoir étendre progressivement les programmes d’élimination au niveau national. Leur bon fonctionnement repose sur une approche systématique et organisée, qui sera plus facile à déployer dans le cadre d’une couverture sanitaire universelle efficace, intégrant la budgétisation et la planification des services de santé.
Favoriser l’intégration de cet objectif aux enjeux politiques, au financement, à un programme et aux services de santé pour une efficacité durable. Les approches cloisonnées de la santé publique créent des inefficacités pouvant être minimisées ou complètement évitées. Les synergies avec d’autres priorités de santé publique, comme le VIH ou la planification familiale, doivent être recherchées. Le cadre de la stratégie mondiale de l’OMS pour l’élimination doit être utilisé pour promouvoir l’intégration financière. Un engagement fort des preneurs de décision aux niveaux mondial, national, programmatique et des services doit être encouragé pour s’assurer que l’intégration soit optimale et que tous les bénéfices en soient tirés.
Privilégier des solutions innovantes optimisant différentes sources de financement pour compléter le financement national.Dans des contextes de faible revenu, le financement national dédié aux services de lutte contre le cancer, dont le cancer du col de l’utérus, n’est pas suffisant pour développer des programmes à l’échelle nationale. Les conséquences financières mondiales de la pandémie de Covid-19 impacteront à long terme le financement de la santé. Les pays concernés doivent accroître leurs dépenses nationales de santé et améliorer leur utilisation des impôts et des systèmes d’assurance maladie, tout en favorisant l’utilisation d’autres systèmes de financement alternatifs lorsqu’ils sont disponibles. Des approches en consortium permettant de mobiliser des fonds auprès de banques de développement en combinant financement public et privé tout en favorisant l’expertise et la rapidité doit être envisagé.
Value-based healthcare in Sweden: Reaching the next level
The need to get better value from healthcare investment has never been more important as ageing populations and increasing numbers of people with multiple chronic conditions force governments to make limited financial resources go further.
These pressures, along with a greater focus on patient-centred care, have raised the profile of VBHC, especially in European healthcare systems. Sweden, with its highly comprehensive and egalitarian healthcare system, has been a leader in implementing VBHC from the beginning, a fact that was underscored in a 2016 global assessment of VBHC published by The Economist Intelligence Unit.
This paper looks at the ways in which Sweden has implemented VBHC, the areas in which it has faced obstacles and the lessons that it can teach other countries and health systems looking to improve the value of their own healthcare investments.
Breast cancer patients and survivors in the Asia-Pacific workforce
With more older women also working, how will the rising trend of breast cancer survivorship manifest in workplace policies, practices and culture? What challenges do breast cancer survivors face when trying to reintegrate into the workforce, or to continue working during treatment? How can governments, companies and society at large play a constructive role?
This series of reports looks at the situation for breast cancer survivors in Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. It finds that while progress has been made, more needs to be done, particularly in South Korea, where public stigma around cancer remains high.New funding for the Global Fund supports equitable access to COVID-19 tools
Related content
Value-based healthcare in Sweden: Reaching the next level
The need to get better value from healthcare investment has never been more important as ageing populations and increasing numbers of people with multiple chronic conditions force governments to make limited financial resources go further.
These pressures, along with a greater focus on patient-centred care, have raised the profile of VBHC, especially in European healthcare systems. Sweden, with its highly comprehensive and egalitarian healthcare system, has been a leader in implementing VBHC from the beginning, a fact that was underscored in a 2016 global assessment of VBHC published by The Economist Intelligence Unit.
This paper looks at the ways in which Sweden has implemented VBHC, the areas in which it has faced obstacles and the lessons that it can teach other countries and health systems looking to improve the value of their own healthcare investments.
Breast cancer patients and survivors in the Asia-Pacific workforce
With more older women also working, how will the rising trend of breast cancer survivorship manifest in workplace policies, practices and culture? What challenges do breast cancer survivors face when trying to reintegrate into the workforce, or to continue working during treatment? How can governments, companies and society at large play a constructive role?
This series of reports looks at the situation for breast cancer survivors in Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. It finds that while progress has been made, more needs to be done, particularly in South Korea, where public stigma around cancer remains high. The Cost of Silence
Cardiovascular diseases levy a substantial financial toll on individuals, their households and the public finances. These include the costs of hospital treatment, long-term disease management and recurring incidence of heart attacks and stroke. They also include the costs of functional impairment and knock-on costs as families may lose breadwinners or have to withdraw other family members from the workforce to care for a CVD patient. Governments also lose tax revenue due to early retirement and mortality, and can be forced to reallocate public finances from other budgets to maintain an accessible healthcare system in the face of rising costs.
As such, there is a need for more awareness of the ways in which people should actively work to reduce their CVD risk. There is also a need for more primary and secondary preventative support from health agencies, policymakers and nongovernmental groups.
To inform the decisions and strategies of these stakeholders, The Economist Intelligence Unit and EIU Healthcare, its healthcare subsidiary, have conducted a study of the prevalence and costs of the top four modifiable risk factors that contribute to CVDs across the Asian markets of China, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
Download the report to learn more.
Briefing Paper | Integrated care pathways for bone health
Briefing Paper | Integrated care pathways for bone health
As individuals age two factors become increasingly important: memory and mobility. With life expectancy around the world rising, the burden of poor bone health rises in unison. Many diseases compete for prioritisation in the race to support healthy ageing, but addressing bone health is the most important way to preserve mobility for ageing populations. Poor bone health encompasses a broad spectrum of diseases, but it is most often quantified as the cumulative burden of osteoporosis and osteoporosis-related fractures.
More from this series
Related content
Value-based healthcare in Sweden: Reaching the next level
The need to get better value from healthcare investment has never been more important as ageing populations and increasing numbers of people with multiple chronic conditions force governments to make limited financial resources go further.
These pressures, along with a greater focus on patient-centred care, have raised the profile of VBHC, especially in European healthcare systems. Sweden, with its highly comprehensive and egalitarian healthcare system, has been a leader in implementing VBHC from the beginning, a fact that was underscored in a 2016 global assessment of VBHC published by The Economist Intelligence Unit.
This paper looks at the ways in which Sweden has implemented VBHC, the areas in which it has faced obstacles and the lessons that it can teach other countries and health systems looking to improve the value of their own healthcare investments.
Breast cancer patients and survivors in the Asia-Pacific workforce
With more older women also working, how will the rising trend of breast cancer survivorship manifest in workplace policies, practices and culture? What challenges do breast cancer survivors face when trying to reintegrate into the workforce, or to continue working during treatment? How can governments, companies and society at large play a constructive role?
This series of reports looks at the situation for breast cancer survivors in Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. It finds that while progress has been made, more needs to be done, particularly in South Korea, where public stigma around cancer remains high. The Cost of Silence
Cardiovascular diseases levy a substantial financial toll on individuals, their households and the public finances. These include the costs of hospital treatment, long-term disease management and recurring incidence of heart attacks and stroke. They also include the costs of functional impairment and knock-on costs as families may lose breadwinners or have to withdraw other family members from the workforce to care for a CVD patient. Governments also lose tax revenue due to early retirement and mortality, and can be forced to reallocate public finances from other budgets to maintain an accessible healthcare system in the face of rising costs.
As such, there is a need for more awareness of the ways in which people should actively work to reduce their CVD risk. There is also a need for more primary and secondary preventative support from health agencies, policymakers and nongovernmental groups.
To inform the decisions and strategies of these stakeholders, The Economist Intelligence Unit and EIU Healthcare, its healthcare subsidiary, have conducted a study of the prevalence and costs of the top four modifiable risk factors that contribute to CVDs across the Asian markets of China, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
Download the report to learn more.
Integrated care pathways for bone health: an overview of global policies
Integrated care pathways for bone health: an overview of global policies
Integrated Care Pathways for Bone Health: An Overview of Global Policies is a report by The Economist Intelligence Unit examining the global policy environment for bone health.
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Value-based healthcare in Sweden: Reaching the next level
The need to get better value from healthcare investment has never been more important as ageing populations and increasing numbers of people with multiple chronic conditions force governments to make limited financial resources go further.
These pressures, along with a greater focus on patient-centred care, have raised the profile of VBHC, especially in European healthcare systems. Sweden, with its highly comprehensive and egalitarian healthcare system, has been a leader in implementing VBHC from the beginning, a fact that was underscored in a 2016 global assessment of VBHC published by The Economist Intelligence Unit.
This paper looks at the ways in which Sweden has implemented VBHC, the areas in which it has faced obstacles and the lessons that it can teach other countries and health systems looking to improve the value of their own healthcare investments.
Breast cancer patients and survivors in the Asia-Pacific workforce
With more older women also working, how will the rising trend of breast cancer survivorship manifest in workplace policies, practices and culture? What challenges do breast cancer survivors face when trying to reintegrate into the workforce, or to continue working during treatment? How can governments, companies and society at large play a constructive role?
This series of reports looks at the situation for breast cancer survivors in Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. It finds that while progress has been made, more needs to be done, particularly in South Korea, where public stigma around cancer remains high. The Cost of Silence
Cardiovascular diseases levy a substantial financial toll on individuals, their households and the public finances. These include the costs of hospital treatment, long-term disease management and recurring incidence of heart attacks and stroke. They also include the costs of functional impairment and knock-on costs as families may lose breadwinners or have to withdraw other family members from the workforce to care for a CVD patient. Governments also lose tax revenue due to early retirement and mortality, and can be forced to reallocate public finances from other budgets to maintain an accessible healthcare system in the face of rising costs.
As such, there is a need for more awareness of the ways in which people should actively work to reduce their CVD risk. There is also a need for more primary and secondary preventative support from health agencies, policymakers and nongovernmental groups.
To inform the decisions and strategies of these stakeholders, The Economist Intelligence Unit and EIU Healthcare, its healthcare subsidiary, have conducted a study of the prevalence and costs of the top four modifiable risk factors that contribute to CVDs across the Asian markets of China, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
Download the report to learn more.
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Drug control policies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: The economic, hea...
The former communist countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) are transition economies, attempting to manage rising healthcare costs whilst reforming their health systems. EECA is one of the few regions in the world where the incidence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is going up. Because of competing needs, public health interventions for HIV have been low on policymakers priority lists, with the allocation of domestic funds to scaling-up HIV prevention programmes falling short of demand.
Criminalisation of drug use and incarceration for drug-related offences are one of the main influences behind an increase in prison populations in EECA countries. Arresting and putting people who inject drugs (PWID) in prison is both expensive and associated with an increase in HIV infections. The funds allocated to incarcerating PWID massively outweigh those spent on prevention and treatment for this group. The stigma associated with drug use in EECA further hinders the expansion of HIV prevention programmes within mainstream public health.
In parts of Western Europe, evidenceinformed, properly scaled up, community-led harm reduction services exist, where criminal sanctions for individual use and possession of drugs are removed and human rights are respected. Such harm reduction approaches have helped decrease problems with drug use, reduce overcrowding in prisons and dramatically reduce the incidence of HIV in PWID. The case for addressing punitive criminalisation strategies and stigma associated with HIV in PWID in EECA is clear, yet progress towards decriminalisation remains slow.
This Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report aims to capture the attention of policy-makers in four study countries in the EECA region; Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia to make the case for the cost effectiveness and health gains achieved when the criminalisation of drug use is reduced, harm reduction is scaled up and stigma and discrimination towards PWID and other vulnerable populations is reduced. To eliminate HIV in PWID this report arrives at the following four recommendations:
A shift in resource allocation. Investing the money saved from decriminalising drug use and possession for personal use (€38m-€773m over 20 years) into scaling up antiretroviral therapy (ART) and opioid agonist treatment (OAT) could effectively control the current HIV epidemics among PWID in the four study countries for no added cost. This both achieves the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) coverage targets of ART in all settings, increases the coverage of OAT and reduces HIV incidence in PWID by 79.4-92.9% over 20 years. As OAT is not available in Russia, scaling up needle and syringe programmes (NSP) is an alternative solution which would be cheaper than scaling up OAT and ART. It would cost on average €46.5m per year to get 60% coverage of PWID and avert around 14,000 HIV infections per year. What is striking about these findings are the savings and HIV infections averted following such a simple shift in resources from criminalisation to harm reduction approaches, something governments cannot ignore.
Scaling up harm reduction in prison and continuity of care on release. Punishment should restrict freedom, not healthcare. Harm reduction needs to be scaled up not only in the community but also in prisons. The data explaining the risk of HIV transmission in prison is often blurred by underreporting and poor data collection. Special attention should be given to PWID when they leave prison, to ensure they continue to receive services, prevent overdose and further offending. Transitional care, which includes the provision of harm reduction interventions in prison and sustaining them post release is crucial to reducing HIV prevalence in the long term and should be made part of a national framework that straddles health and the criminal justice system.
Tackling stigma and discrimination. Stigma and discriminatory attitudes towards vulnerable populations need to be stopped. Stigmareducing workshops which educate the health and law enforcement sector on HIV prevention is a simple yet scarce solution in EECA. The importance of counselling, supporting positive mental health, addressing homelessness, preventing overdose and providing access to sexual and reproductive health services should be central to these educative workshops. Long term solutions require consistent and robust data collection on violence, discrimination and stigma, alongside actively using tools of influence such as shadow and alternative reporting to UN human rights treaty bodies.
Urgent law enforcement reform. To stop law enforcement officers from committing corrupt practices, there must be a reform of not only the police, but also a complete makeover of drug legislation and healthcare policies supporting drug users and people living with HIV. Punitive laws against key populations must be removed, and vulnerable populations such as sex workers, men who have sex with men, trans people, prisoners and PWID should be protected rather than antagonised by legal aid and law enforcement institutions.
Download Russian Report Value-based healthcare in Sweden: Reaching the next level
The need to get better value from healthcare investment has never been more important as ageing populations and increasing numbers of people with multiple chronic conditions force governments to make limited financial resources go further.
These pressures, along with a greater focus on patient-centred care, have raised the profile of VBHC, especially in European healthcare systems. Sweden, with its highly comprehensive and egalitarian healthcare system, has been a leader in implementing VBHC from the beginning, a fact that was underscored in a 2016 global assessment of VBHC published by The Economist Intelligence Unit.
This paper looks at the ways in which Sweden has implemented VBHC, the areas in which it has faced obstacles and the lessons that it can teach other countries and health systems looking to improve the value of their own healthcare investments.
Breast cancer patients and survivors in the Asia-Pacific workforce
With more older women also working, how will the rising trend of breast cancer survivorship manifest in workplace policies, practices and culture? What challenges do breast cancer survivors face when trying to reintegrate into the workforce, or to continue working during treatment? How can governments, companies and society at large play a constructive role?
This series of reports looks at the situation for breast cancer survivors in Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. It finds that while progress has been made, more needs to be done, particularly in South Korea, where public stigma around cancer remains high.Drug control policies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: The economic, health and social impact
Drug control policies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: The economic, health and social impact
The former communist countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) are transition economies, attempting to manage rising healthcare costs whilst reforming their health systems. EECA is one of the few regions in the world where the incidence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is going up. Because of competing needs, public health interventions for HIV have been low on policymakers priority lists, with the allocation of domestic funds to scaling-up HIV prevention programmes falling short of demand.
Related content
Value-based healthcare in Sweden: Reaching the next level
The need to get better value from healthcare investment has never been more important as ageing populations and increasing numbers of people with multiple chronic conditions force governments to make limited financial resources go further.
These pressures, along with a greater focus on patient-centred care, have raised the profile of VBHC, especially in European healthcare systems. Sweden, with its highly comprehensive and egalitarian healthcare system, has been a leader in implementing VBHC from the beginning, a fact that was underscored in a 2016 global assessment of VBHC published by The Economist Intelligence Unit.
This paper looks at the ways in which Sweden has implemented VBHC, the areas in which it has faced obstacles and the lessons that it can teach other countries and health systems looking to improve the value of their own healthcare investments.
Breast cancer patients and survivors in the Asia-Pacific workforce
With more older women also working, how will the rising trend of breast cancer survivorship manifest in workplace policies, practices and culture? What challenges do breast cancer survivors face when trying to reintegrate into the workforce, or to continue working during treatment? How can governments, companies and society at large play a constructive role?
This series of reports looks at the situation for breast cancer survivors in Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. It finds that while progress has been made, more needs to be done, particularly in South Korea, where public stigma around cancer remains high. The Cost of Silence
Cardiovascular diseases levy a substantial financial toll on individuals, their households and the public finances. These include the costs of hospital treatment, long-term disease management and recurring incidence of heart attacks and stroke. They also include the costs of functional impairment and knock-on costs as families may lose breadwinners or have to withdraw other family members from the workforce to care for a CVD patient. Governments also lose tax revenue due to early retirement and mortality, and can be forced to reallocate public finances from other budgets to maintain an accessible healthcare system in the face of rising costs.
As such, there is a need for more awareness of the ways in which people should actively work to reduce their CVD risk. There is also a need for more primary and secondary preventative support from health agencies, policymakers and nongovernmental groups.
To inform the decisions and strategies of these stakeholders, The Economist Intelligence Unit and EIU Healthcare, its healthcare subsidiary, have conducted a study of the prevalence and costs of the top four modifiable risk factors that contribute to CVDs across the Asian markets of China, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
Download the report to learn more.
Doing more with less: Defining value in Latin American health systems
Doing more with less: Defining value in Latin American health systems
For most of 2020 the covid-19 pandemic has shone a stark spotlight on many health system vulnerabilities globally, and particularly in Latin America. These vulnerabilities, punctuated by huge national death tolls, have catalysed change to some extent by placing pressure on political leaders who have otherwise been slow to invest effectively in the health sector.
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Value-based healthcare in Sweden: Reaching the next level
The need to get better value from healthcare investment has never been more important as ageing populations and increasing numbers of people with multiple chronic conditions force governments to make limited financial resources go further.
These pressures, along with a greater focus on patient-centred care, have raised the profile of VBHC, especially in European healthcare systems. Sweden, with its highly comprehensive and egalitarian healthcare system, has been a leader in implementing VBHC from the beginning, a fact that was underscored in a 2016 global assessment of VBHC published by The Economist Intelligence Unit.
This paper looks at the ways in which Sweden has implemented VBHC, the areas in which it has faced obstacles and the lessons that it can teach other countries and health systems looking to improve the value of their own healthcare investments.
Breast cancer patients and survivors in the Asia-Pacific workforce
With more older women also working, how will the rising trend of breast cancer survivorship manifest in workplace policies, practices and culture? What challenges do breast cancer survivors face when trying to reintegrate into the workforce, or to continue working during treatment? How can governments, companies and society at large play a constructive role?
This series of reports looks at the situation for breast cancer survivors in Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. It finds that while progress has been made, more needs to be done, particularly in South Korea, where public stigma around cancer remains high. The Cost of Silence
Cardiovascular diseases levy a substantial financial toll on individuals, their households and the public finances. These include the costs of hospital treatment, long-term disease management and recurring incidence of heart attacks and stroke. They also include the costs of functional impairment and knock-on costs as families may lose breadwinners or have to withdraw other family members from the workforce to care for a CVD patient. Governments also lose tax revenue due to early retirement and mortality, and can be forced to reallocate public finances from other budgets to maintain an accessible healthcare system in the face of rising costs.
As such, there is a need for more awareness of the ways in which people should actively work to reduce their CVD risk. There is also a need for more primary and secondary preventative support from health agencies, policymakers and nongovernmental groups.
To inform the decisions and strategies of these stakeholders, The Economist Intelligence Unit and EIU Healthcare, its healthcare subsidiary, have conducted a study of the prevalence and costs of the top four modifiable risk factors that contribute to CVDs across the Asian markets of China, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
Download the report to learn more.
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A life-course approach to hygiene: understanding burden and behavioural cha...
Hygiene refers to the practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases. While good hygiene is primarily about behaviours, the ability to practise them well is supported by having the appropriate infrastructure in place, such as access to clean water and soap.
Poor water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) increases death rates and ill health, creates greater demand for healthcare interventions, widens social inequalities, and has repercussions for quality of life and the wider economy.
There are two main transmission routes for infection—the faecal-oral and respiratory pathways—and hygiene measures work by disrupting them.
Attaining good hygiene is complex, and it is becoming increasingly clear that a more holistic approach is needed that engages and empowers local populations, and is locally sensitive and sustainable.
The life-course approach, which has its origins in preventing or reducing the impact of non-communicable diseases through encouraging good behaviours while recognising the contribution of other factors, including environmental ones, could provide a useful framework for communicable disease and hygiene. Looking at hygiene through a life-course lens could form part of a smarter approach that embeds good hygiene behaviour from childhood (to gain the most cumulative benefit), and then reinforces it throughout a person’s lifetime to boost good hygiene practices if these start to wane.
This report looks at the burden, challenges and opportunities of a life-course approach at four key life stages by focusing on specific infectious diseases or challenges at those time points.
Childhood and hygiene: a focus on diarrhoea
Every year diarrhoeal diseases kill around 0.5m children under five, with the majority of deaths in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of diarrhoeal deaths in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) across all age groups can be attributed to WASH. Handwashing with soap can reduce transmission of diarrhoeal diseases and, to a lesser extent, respiratory infections. It is estimated that handwashing with soap after faecal contact only occurs in about 26% of events globally,, and the frequency of handwashing was lowest in regions with poor access to handwashing facilities. In 2017 the UN estimated that 3bn people lacked basic handwashing facilities at home. Furthermore almost half (47%) of schools worldwide lack handwashing facilities with available soap and water, and one in four health care facilities lack basic water services.
Experience from implementing hygiene interventions in schools and health centres suggests that interventions to improve hygiene in LMICs need to be two pronged, encouraging handwashing behaviour while also improving infrastructure to enable it.
Adolescence and hygiene: a focus on menstrual hygiene
Around 1.9bn women—about 26% of the world’s population—are of menstruating age, spending around 65 days per annum managing menstrual blood flow. As defined by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP), adequate menstrual hygiene requires women and adolescent girls to be able to access clean menstrual management material to absorb or collect menstrual blood, change their sanitary protection in privacy, have access to soap and water to clean themselves and wash reusable pads, and have an understanding of the basic facts linked to the menstrual cycle and how to manage it with dignity and without discomfort or fear.
Although menstrual hygiene issues impact girls and women across the globe, they have the biggest impact in LMICs where cultural, social and religious beliefs can further disadvantage menstruating girls and women.,, Menstruation affects the education of girls, including their attendance, engagement with lessons and potentially their life chances, and research is needed to measure the impact. In the workplace, menstruation affects women’s productivity and absenteeism.
Improving menstrual hygiene management is complex but must begin primarily with education in schools. Currently many girls in LMICs are unprepared for their first period; they often rely on information from their mothers, which tends to be framed in the context of protection from pregnancy rather than the needs and preferences of their daughters.
Adults and hygiene: a focus on slums
The world is becoming increasingly urbanised owing to adults being drawn from rural areas to towns and cities. Over 90% of this urban growth is occurring in LMICs, where the number of urban residents is growing by an estimated 70m each year, and many will end up in urban slums. The number of urban slum dwellers stands at over 880m and is growing. High-density living conditions, poor housing, low incomes, lack of convenient access to affordable clean water and soap, and lack of effective solutions for sanitation and solid waste management mean that the people in these communities are particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases. Currently, opportunities for interventions to reinforce the importance of hygiene behaviour during adulthood are limited, especially in informal settlements. Innovative slum improvement initiatives are required, with the full participation of slum residents.
Older people and hygiene: a focus on respiratory hygiene
Deaths from lower respiratory tract infections are highest in the under 5 and over 70 age groups, and most of this burden occurs in countries with low socio-demographic development.
The covid-19 pandemic of 2020 has highlighted the particular risks posed to older people by respiratory disease. For example, until December 23rd 2020, 92% of covid-19 deaths in the US had occurred among those aged 55 or older, and only 0.2% in the under-25s. As countries have grappled to contain the pandemic, it has also become clear that there needs to be greater consideration of and emphasis on hygiene standards for preventing respiratory diseases. Hygiene interventions generally put particular importance on behaviours that reduce diarrhoeal diseases, particularly washing hands after using the toilet and before eating, rather than regular cleaning and disinfection of frequent touch points, cough etiquette and washing hands when entering or leaving a different environment.
Our understanding of the basic science of respiratory pathogen transmission pathways and how to interrupt them also needs to be improved. More attention to hygiene during pandemics and epidemics has been shown to have benefits for reducing the incidence of other infectious diseases. For example, from March to September 2020 there were 7,029 influenza notifications in Australia, compared with an annual average of 149,832 over the same period in the previous five years.
A life-course approach to hygiene: understanding burden and behavioural changes is a report produced by The Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by the Reckitt Global Hygiene Institute. This research covers the factors that need to be considered to establish good hygiene practices and behaviour, with a particular focus on four areas: diarrhoea, slums, menstrual hygiene and respiratory hygiene. Extensive evidence was gathered from the literature and 11 expert interviews were conducted to help inform our research and this report. Our thanks are due to the following for their time and insights (listed alphabetically):
Kelly Alexander, senior learning and influencing advisor, Water+, CARE, Atlanta, Georgia, US
Jason Corburn, professor at the School of Public Health and Department of City and Regional Planning, and director of the Institute of Urban and Regional Development, University of California, Berkeley, US
David Duncan, chief of WASH, UNICEF, Laos
Samayita Ghosh, senior research associate at the Centre for Environmental Health, Public Health Foundation of India, India
Julie Hennegan, research fellow, Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Programme, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Australia; adjunct research associate, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, US
Karin Leder, professor of clinical epidemiology and head of the Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Unit at the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Stephen Luby, professor of medicine (Infectious Diseases & Geographic Medicine) and director of research at the Center for Innovation in Global Health, Stanford University, California, US
David Nabarro, co-director of the Imperial College Institute of Global Health Innovation, London, UK; special envoy to the World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general on COVID-19; and strategic director of 4SD (Skills, Systems and Synergies for Sustainable Development)
Poornima Prabhakaran, additional professor, head (environmental health) and deputy director, Centre for Environmental Health, Public Health Foundation of India, India
Ian Ross, economist and PhD student (health economics), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK
Joy Ruwodo, director, public affairs for the Ending Neglected Diseases (END) Fund Africa Region
Video | A life-course approach to hygiene
Hygiene refers to the practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases. While good hygiene is primarily about behaviours, the ability to practise them well is supported by having the appropriate infrastructure in place, such as access to clean water and soap.
Poor water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) increases death rates and ill health, creates greater demand for healthcare interventions, widens social inequalities, and has repercussions for quality of life and the wider economy.
There are two main transmission routes for infection—the faecal-oral and respiratory pathways—and hygiene measures work by disrupting them.
Attaining good hygiene is complex, and it is becoming increasingly clear that a more holistic approach is needed that engages and empowers local populations, and is locally sensitive and sustainable.
The life-course approach, which has its origins in preventing or reducing the impact of non-communicable diseases through encouraging good behaviours while recognising the contribution of other factors, including environmental ones, could provide a useful framework for communicable disease and hygiene. Looking at hygiene through a life-course lens could form part of a smarter approach that embeds good hygiene behaviour from childhood (to gain the most cumulative benefit), and then reinforces it throughout a person’s lifetime to boost good hygiene practices if these start to wane.
Value-based healthcare in Sweden: Reaching the next level
The need to get better value from healthcare investment has never been more important as ageing populations and increasing numbers of people with multiple chronic conditions force governments to make limited financial resources go further.
These pressures, along with a greater focus on patient-centred care, have raised the profile of VBHC, especially in European healthcare systems. Sweden, with its highly comprehensive and egalitarian healthcare system, has been a leader in implementing VBHC from the beginning, a fact that was underscored in a 2016 global assessment of VBHC published by The Economist Intelligence Unit.
This paper looks at the ways in which Sweden has implemented VBHC, the areas in which it has faced obstacles and the lessons that it can teach other countries and health systems looking to improve the value of their own healthcare investments.