Public health reforms in Estonia: impact on the health of the population (original) (raw)
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In Estonia like in other East-European countries the transition from centrally planned economy to market economy caused changes in socioeconomic life. On the one hand, reforms revealed negative phenomena, which primarily constituted new sources of stress. The greatest problems mentioned were unemployment, the danger of losing job, poverty, and the emergence of new types of risk behaviour-an increase in the use of narcotics and the spread of AIDS. Due to the closed nature of the society many of those aspects were entirely unfamiliar to Estonians in the 1990s. However, also positive changes should be pointed out, such as a wider spectre of choices and opportunities. Unfortunately, very often the price paid for success was an increase in the stress level. Social problems were reflected in the daily life of people, revealing economic hardships creating tensions in family relationships but also loneliness, increasing the consumption of alcohol, causing difficulties in combining work and family life, which in turn was accompanied by higher stress levels. Closer scrutiny of the proportions of people suffering from stress reveals that there were more women displaying stress-related symptoms whereas the amount of men suffering from stress increased more rapidly in the period from 1993 to 2003. The study is based on the materials of two population surveys "Estonia 1993" and "Estonia 2003" carried out by the family sociologists of Tallinn University.
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Background: The focus of the article is on organizational reform measures in public health in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from 1992 to 2005 and the associated changes in population health. Methods: The study draws on published reports and analyses official statistics over time and cross-nationally. Changes in population health are measured by indicators of population health status and indicators of primary prevention or avoidable mortality, which reflect performance of national health policy. Results: Our study shows some similarities and some important differences in terms of public health development in the Baltic countries since beginning of the 1990s. Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of political stability and support in achieving public health improvements and the pervasive influence of socio-demographic factors on several key health indicators in Baltic countries. It points to the need to introduce evidence-based public health interventions, enhance social trust, address corruption and tackle poverty.
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International Journal of Epidemiology, 2003
Socioeconomic differences in mortality have been extensively reported in the West. 1-3 The last decades have witnessed an increase in relative mortality rate ratios in many countries, although absolute differences are more stable. 4-7 Less is known about ex-communist countries. Studies suggest that educational differences in mortality in Eastern Europe at the end of the communist era were at least as big as in the West. 8,9 Estonia, the smallest country in the Baltic region, regained its political autonomy in 1991 after 50 years of Soviet occupation. Estonia opted for much more far-reaching and intense free market reforms than other transition economies in Central Europe and the former Soviet Union. Deliberate policies were aimed at stimulating job creation and employment (including international trade opportunities and foreign ownership of firms), above all by low employment protection and reduced social safety nets. 10 Its mortality development over the past 40 years has been similar to other ex-communist countries: male life expectancy improved by only about 1 year and female by 4 years IJE vol.32 no.
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The objective of the study is to evaluate changes in the health situation in the most developed European post-Communist countries created on the ruins of larger states, i.e. Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. On the one hand, the collapse of the system of Communist states brought freedom and gave their citizens a chance for a better life. But, on the other hand, it also brought some dangers. One of them was the negative consequences of the breakup of larger organisms. In addition, in the case of newly created countries, the simultaneous necessity to create statehood with all its attributes was an additional factor impeding reforms (Lorber 2010). First of all, changes in the population’s situation (including health) in European post-Communist countries have been affected by the reforms that have been carried out (economic, political and social) and also by cultural determinants. Yet, on the other hand, the consequences of the dissolution of states (direct ones such as w...
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LIIS ROOVÄLI ENEPRI RESEARCH REPORT NO. 45 AHEAD WP9 DECEMBER 2007 ENEPRI Research Reports are designed to make the results of research projects undertaken within the framework of the European Network of Economic Policy Research Institutes (ENEPRI) publicly available. This paper was prepared as part of Work Package 9 of the AHEAD project-Ageing, Health Status and the Determinants of Health Expenditure-which has received financing from the European Commission under the 6 th Research Framework Programme (contract no. SP21-CT-2003-502641). Its findings and conclusions are attributable only to the author/s and not to ENEPRI or any of its member institutions. A brief description of the AHEAD project and a list of its partner institutes can be found at the end of this report.
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Health of Estonian population by objective and subjective statistics
Papers on Anthropology, 2015
Many studies concerning the health problems of the population have been conducted in Estonia during the last decades. In the population census of 2011, several questions about health conditions were also asked. Summarizing the subjective and objective data, it turns out that the general health situation of the Estonian population is steadily improving. During the last decade, the life expectancy of Estonian men and women has increased by approximately five years. Statistical data also show that education is strongly correlated with the health situation: people with a higher level of education have, in general, fewer health problems. The people living in rural areas have somewhat more health-caused limitations in their everyday life-the reason for this situation seems to be deficiencies in communication and conveniences. The general health situation of a population is a very important indicator. It should be taken into account when planning social policy but also in calculating the resources of workforce in the country or estimating the costs needed for retirement allowances. The number of medical personnel also depends on the estimated health of the population, as this knowledge also works as an input for education policy