MEPMIS

Successes and failures of health policy in Europe

Purpose of the conference Europe, with its 53 very diverse countries, is a remarkable but inadequately exploited natural laboratory for studying health policy. Research so far has largely focused on the lessons that can be learnt from different ways of delivering health services. Yet, there is potentially much more that can be learnt from differences in how these countries have addressed health protection and health promotion. This is shown by the highly uneven development of population health. While progress overall has been substantial in most countries (but not all, with some significant reversals) some have been more successful in reducing rates of premature mortality than others. This is even more striking for specific conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, traffic injury, perinatal mortality or various forms of cancer. This conference brings together the results of recent comparative studies of health policies and population health in Europe in order to identify the successes and failures of national health policies, and to investigate the institutional and other determinants of success. Program of the conference This conference will assess, for four specific areas of health policy, whether variations between countries in the implementation of policies is reflected in variations in health outcomes. We have chosen four areas where preliminary analysis suggest this to be the case: smoking, alcohol, road traffic safety, and child health. If promising results are obtained for these four areas, the initiative will be expanded to cover more areas of health policy. 13.00-13.15 Introduction Johan Mackenbach (Erasmus MC, Rotterdam) 13.15-13.45 Population health trends in Europe Martin McKee (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) 13.45-14.15 Impact of smoking policies Anna Gilmore (University of Bath) 14.15-14.45 Impact of alcohol policies Peter Anderson (Newcastle University and Maastricht University) 14.45-15.15 Tea break 15.15-15.45 Impact of road traffic safety policies Dinesh Sethi (WHO Regional Office for Europe, Rome) 15.45-16.15 Impact of child health policies Ingrid Wolfe (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) 16.15-16.45 General discussion Moderated by Martin McKee 16.45-17.00 Wrap-up Johan Mackenbach (Erasmus MC, Rotterdam) Cost 60 Euro