Most people in OECD countries are overweight or obese. The social and economic consequences of this epidemic are dramatic, exposing an increasing number of people to chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
Improving primary care systems and co-ordination between health services would help Norway meet the changing needs of its healthcare system, as the population ages and hospital stays become shorter, according to a new OECD report.
Air pollution is costing advanced economies plus China and India an estimated USD 3.5 trillion a year in premature deaths and ill health and the costs will rise without government action to limit vehicle emissions, a new OECD report says.
More than 35 million people worldwide had dementia in 2010 and this number is expected to exceed 115 million by 2050. This paper reports on the opportunities offered by the informatics revolution and big data to address Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia. This will require careful planning and multi-stakeholder collaboration as technical, administrative, regulatory, infrastructure and financial obstacles emerge.
Mental health issues cost the UK around GBP 70 billion every year, or roughly 4.5% of GDP, in lost productivity at work, benefit payments and health care expenditure.
An ageing population brings new challenges both to healthcare systems and to medicine in terms of the increased manifestation of specific diseases primarily seen in the elderly. Biomedical innovation, and in particular research into "omics technologies", offers the promise of new means of detection, prevention and treatment of age-related disabilities and diseases.
Switzerland needs to do more to help people with mental disorders find a job or stay in work, according to a new OECD report.
Sweden’s health and elderly care systems deserve their reputation as being among the best in the world. Yet an ageing population with growing chronic conditions and requiring more complex health services are testing Sweden’s ability to continue delivering high-quality care, according to a new OECD report.
This report examines examples of new and emerging governance models to support responsible development of diagnostics and treatments based on the latest advances in biomedicine. It identifies some of the main challenges for policy makers, regulators and other communities involved in the translation of biomedical innovation and health technologies from the lab bench to point of care.
Health spending has fallen in the United Kingdom in 2010 and 2011 for the first time since the 1970s, according to a new OECD report. Health at a Glance 2013 says that spending in real terms per capita fell by 1.1% in 2011, following a 2.5% decline in 2010.
Mexico needs serious investment in prevention programmes to address its massive, and still rising, obesity rate, according to a new OECD report.
Japan has good health outcomes and has rapidly increased its spending on health care in recent years. It now needs to focus on improving efficiency of its health system in order to continue delivering high-quality care while containing costs, according to a new OECD report.
Health spending per capita in real terms fell by 2% in Italy in 2011, and is estimated to have fallen by a further 0.4% in 2012. Spending per capita also fell in 10 other European countries between 2009 and 2011, following the recession and the need for fiscal consolidation, according to a new OECD report.
Australians continue to enjoy one of the highest levels of health across the developed world but need to address Australia’s growing obesity problem, according to a new OECD report.
Total health spending has fallen in one of three OECD countries between 2009 and 2011, with those hardest hit by the crisis most affected. This is a sharp reversal from the strong growth in the years prior to the crisis, according to a new OECD report.
Ireland continues to make substantive headway in improving health outcomes, but more can be done in reducing risk-factors for major diseases and improving value-for-money in health spending, according to a new OECD report.
The global economic crisis has had a profound impact on people’s well-being, reaching far beyond the loss of jobs and income, and affecting citizens’ satisfaction with their lives and their trust in governments, according to a new OECD report.
Earlier detection and better treatment for cancer would cut death rates from the disease by around a third, saving the lives of nearly a million people in the developed world every year, according to a new report by the OECD prepared with the support of the European Commission, building on earlier World Health Organisation research.
This paper explores the development of the bioplastics sector and its role in national bioeconomy strategies. It finds that bioplastics are at a disadvantage compared to some other biobased products, notably biofuels, that often benefit from preferential treatment. It also notes that greater efforts are needed at the international level as regards standards to avoid creating barriers to international trade in biobased products.
To help inform the Conference on Managing Hospital Volumes, co-organised by the German Federal Ministry of Health and the OECD, and held on the 11th April 2013 in Berlin, the OECD Secretariat produced a paper to provide an international perspective on Germany’s situation and the current policy debate.
The future sustainability of health systems will depend on how well governments are able to anticipate and respond to efficiency and quality of care challenges. Bold action is required, as well as willingness to test innovative care delivery approaches. This book examines the whole new world of possibilities in using mobiles and the Internet to address healthcare challenges.
This document outlines the methodologies and tools currently used to assess the risk of chemicals to children’s health and also identifies possible needs for additional guidance or tools based on the results of an on-line survey conducted in November 2011. The following areas of risk assessment are covered: definitions, hazard and exposure assessment, risk characterisation, cohort studies and combined exposure to multiple chemicals.
The future of public health: policy decisions today for tomorrow’s populations. Our health, our economy, our society, our future: a Brave New World. Remarks by Yves Leterme, Deputy Secretary-General, OECD. Brussels, Belgium, September 4th 2013.
This book discusses scientific and technological tools at the centre of a renewed interest in marine biotechnology that is contributing to a new bioeconomy sector in many countries and offering potential new solutions to global challenges.
This report presents the findings of a research project to investigate the drivers and criteria shaping the application of genomic biotechnology to health in different national settings, and the barriers to implementation nationally and internationally. Findings are based on case studies on Finland, Israel, Luxembourg, Mexico, the United Kingdom, China and South Africa.
After falling sharply in 2010, health spending remained flat across OECD countries in 2011 as the economic crisis continued to have an impact, particularly in those European countries hardest hit by the crisis, according to OECD Health Data 2013.
This paper provides new projections of public spending on health and long-term care for OECD countries and the BRIICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China and South Africa). Despite the inevitable uncertainty surrounding projections, they suggest a rapidly rising trend over the next 50 years.
Norway is better placed to cope with population ageing than most other countries. But it could still do more to improve incentives and opportunities for people to stay working longer which would help ensure the country’s long-term future, according to a new OECD report.
"It is estimated that air pollution from diesel-fuelled road transport kills 10 times more people each year in France than those who die in road accidents": OECD Insights Blog's post by Simon Upton, head of the OECD Environment Directorate, founder and Chair of the Round Table on Sustainable Development, and former New Zealand environment minister.
The number of people over 80 will double by 2050 rising from 3.9% of the population to 9.1% in 2050 across OECD countries and from 4.7% to 11.3% across 27 EU members. Estimates are that up to half of them will need help to cope with their daily needs. Yet even today governments are struggling to deliver high-quality care to elderly people with reduced physical and mental abilities, says a new OECD/EC report, A good life in old age? .
This paper brings together information collected through Working Party on Nanotechnology discussions and projects. It relies in particular on preliminary results from a project on the responsible development of nanotechnology and outcomes of a symposium held in 2012.
An overview of OECD work on Employment, Social Protection and International Migration.
To pursue economic growth, Russia must develop its human capital, which requires structural reforms in education, healthcare and pensions. These, in turn, must respond to major trends in service provision, including the increasing role of individual choice, the need to deliver lifelong learning and healthcare, and the risk that Russians will increasingly buy services abroad, rather than work to develop their own national systems.
The main purpose of this meeting is to shortly present where the Mental Health and Work project stands and to discuss some good practice examples from the first countries that have been reviewed.
The Danish central government and regions are leading international efforts to reform hospital systems, improving quality and safety by gathering specialists into major hospitals and closing smaller ones.
Increasingly complex and inconsistent clinical trial regulations are causing delays, raising costs and leading to a decline in the number of international trials conducted by academics for non-commerical purposes.
OECD Health Working Papers No. 60: Health Spending Growth at Zero: Which Countries, Which Sectors Are Most Affected?
Belgian companies, mutualities and employment services should be more proactive in helping people with mental health problems stay in the workplace or find a job, according to a new OECD report.
The Netherlands, as other OECD countries, faces the challenge of providing high quality health and long term care services to an ageing population in a cost-efficient manner.
Though the rate of public spending on healthcare in the Asia/Pacific region is still well below the OECD average, countries there are committing more resources to improving health care quality.
Health spending fell across the European Union in 2010, as cash-strapped governments curbed outlays to help cut budgetary deficits, according to Health at a Glance: Europe 2012, a new joint report by the OECD and the European Commission.
This workshop will convene leading experts from health and finance backgrounds in government, academia, and international organisations to take stock of progress in health expenditure forecasting and to discuss future directions, in light of policy needs and recent advancements in techniques, detailed data and computing power.
New OECD data show that men are more likely to be admitted to hospital as a result of poor management of diabetes than women, even when there are no significant differences in the number of men and women living with diabetes.
The OECD and the ESRC Genomics Policy & Research Forum jointly organised a one-day Forum on 12 November 2012 in Paris. The event was both retrospective and forward-looking. The forum concluded that the promise of biotechnology is not set but evolves with fresh scientific knowledge, novel laws and regulations. The future of biotechnology needs to also integrate social and cultural dimensions.
Israel has world class-primary care services and should now focus efforts on bringing its hospitals up to the same high international standards, according to the OECD’s Health Care Quality Review of Israel.
The obesity epidemic slowed down in several OECD countries during the past three years. Rates grew less that previously projected, or did not grow at all, according to new data from ten OECD countries. However, rates remain high and social disparities in obesity are unabated.
Growth in health spending slowed or fell in real terms in 2010 in almost all OECD countries, reversing a long-term trend of rapid increases, according to OECD Health Data 2012.
한국의 GDP 대비 국민의료비 비중은 2000년 4.5% 에서 2010년 처음으로 7%을 넘은 것(7.1%)으로 나타났다. 그러나 한국의 GDP 대비 국민의료비 비중 7.1%는 OECD 평균 9.5 %에 비해서는 낮은 편이다. 미국은 GDP 대비 17.6%로 가장 높다.
Data from OECD Health Data 2012 focusing on key US issues: why is the US health spending so high? Is US health spending higher due to higher prices or higher service provision? (or both?)? Is the quality of care better in the US? What are the trends in key risk factors to health in the US?
This book introduces the concept of knowledge networks and markets (KNMs) in the life sciences, the emerging organisations and mechanisms to share and trade an increasing variety of knowledge assets.