Health Topic

Good health is necessary for individuals to flourish as citizens, family members, workers and consumers. Improving health is a key concern of OECD societies, as it can contribute to higher economic growth and improved welfare.

Health Update No. 7 now available Issue 7 of Health Update looks at the question of health spending in the current economic crisis. It also features other key health-related projects throughout the OECD (including information and communication technology, healthy ageing, obesity and long term care) and the recent release of OECD Health Data 2009.

OECD Health Data 2009 – comparing health statistics across OECD countries The number of doctors per capita increased 2% per year on average across OECD countries between 1990 and 2007, but in some countries the trend is reversing. These are some of the findings from OECD Health Data 2009, the most comprehensive source of comparable statistics on health and health systems across the 30 OECD countries.

Governments must do more to help most vulnerable amid rising unemployment, urges OECD Governments must urgently adapt their labour market policies to help their most vulnerable citizens in the economic crisis, as was concluded at the High-Level Forum on Sickness, Disability and Work in May 2009. Key to this will be avoiding that the crisis further strengthens a disability benefit culture that pushes many people with disability onto benefit schemes and out of work for the rest of their lives.

Economic Survey of New Zealand 2009: Health care reform: challenges for the next phase Trends in demography, technology and costs will exert mounting and unaffordable pressures on health spending, underlining the need to control health care costs and to put limits on public coverage.

Obesity: analysis of trends in selected OECD countries OECD Health Working Paper No. 45 provides an overview of past and projected future trends in adult overweight and obesity in selected OECD countries. Using individual-level data from repeated cross-sectional national surveys, some of the main determinants and pathways underlying the current obesity epidemic are explored, and possible policy levers for tackling the negative health effect of these trends are identified.

Health status and access to care: measuring disparities OECD Health Working Paper No. 43 assesses the availability and comparability of selected indicators of inequality in health status and in health care access and use across OECD countries, with a focus on disparities among socioeconomic groups.

Joint OECD-World Bank Reviews of Health Systems - Turkey This comprehensive review of Turkey's health care system shows that health status has improved rapidly in Turkey in recent decades, partly as a result of higher health spending.

Healthy ageing policies in OECD member countries OECD Health Working Paper No. 42 reviews policies in the area of healthy ageing. The paper begins by defining healthy ageing and related concepts such as active ageing. It then groups healthy ageing policies under four basic types and describes their programmes for improving the health status of older people.

Strategic options to finance pensions and healthcare in a rapidly ageing world The financial crisis is severely testing the soundness of pension and health care systems in OECD countries and many are not passing the test. At the World Economic Forum, Secretary-General Angel Gurría urged policy makers to act.

Asian Policy Centre - health and social policy The Joint OECD/Korea Policy Centre opened its doors in July 2008. It aims to develop data capacity in co-operation with individual country experts and international partners, and organises seminars, conferences and workshops to foster the exchange of technical information and policy experiences in sectors like health statistics, pension reforms and social expenditure.

System of Health Accounts database now available on OECD.Stat Extracts Detailed health expenditure and financing data from the 2008 Joint OECD-WHO-Eurostat Health Accounts Data Collection are freely available on OECD.Stat Extracts under the theme Health. Fully consistent with OECD Health Data, the System of Health Accounts database allows for more in-depth analysis of health spending and the detailed cross-classification between health care functions, providers and financing. Summary comparative tables and charts from the database can also be found via the main SHA page.