An interesting document pointing out how disadvantaged groups, in regard of social determinants of health, across european countries suffer the highest burden of alcohol-related conditions.
Category Archives: Inequalities in Health
Inégalités en santé et minorités ethniques
Autour du monde, l’état de santé des personnes issues de minorités ethniques est moins bon comparé au reste de la population. Les soins de santé accessibles à ces populations sont de moins bonne qualité.
A travers son rapport 2013, le Minority Rights Group International décrit les facteurs contribuant aux inégalités en santé et propose des pistes d’intervention afin que les pays puissent mieux répondre aux besoins de l’ensemble de leur population.
The tremendous gap in death rates due to NCD
Non communicable diseases (NCD), such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and chronic respiratory diseases represent a new epidemic worldwide.
NCD kill more than 36 million people each year. Nine million of all deaths attributed to NCD occur before the age of 60; 90% of these “premature” deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries. (WHO fact sheet)
The difference in death rates due to NCD between countries shows once again the major inequities existing around the world in term of access to prevention and treatment services for the population, for the same diseases.
WHO’s interactive map shows the NCD death rates around the world. access map here
Switzerland :292/100.000 population USA: 413/100.000
Swaziland: 702/100.000 Haiti: 725/100.000 Laos 680.000/100.000
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs355/en/
Le renoncement aux soins: un patient sur 10 concerné en Suisse Romande
La troisième session de la formation continue “Migration et Santé”, organisée par la PMU a abordé ce sujet qui a été relayé dans plusieurs médias suisses romands, suite aux résultats de l’étude CERESO, portant sur le renoncement aux soins pour des raisons économiques.
Ainsi, sur la base de questionnaires distribués à 2030 patients dans 47 cabinets médicaux de Suisse romande, l’étude a pu mettre en évidence que 1 patient sur 10 a du renoncer à des soins médicaux (y compris soins dentaires) pour des raisons économiques au cours de l’année précédente.
Ainsi, «Durant les douze derniers mois, avez-vous eu de la peine à payer les factures de votre ménage ?» est la question-clé qui va permettre au médecin (et aux autres soignants) d’ ouvrir la porte à la discussion avec le patient, concernant son éventuelle difficulté à accéder aux soins nécessaires pour des raisons financières.
Article: Bodenmann, P. et al. (2014). Renoncement aux soins : comment appréhender cette réalité en médecine de premier recours?. Rev Med Suisse, 10, 2258-63.
Tackling inequalities in health for mental health patients
People living with mental illness suffer from many disadvantages in regard with their health status, among others: earlier death, more preventable diseases, tiresome side effects from medications. In addition to this, when seeking health care they often receive lower quality care compared to other patients.
This article points out the obstacles that people suffering from mental health face in regard of accessing health care that is adapted to their vulnerabilities.
The main goal of the article is to formulate recommendations for designing health policies that better take into account the needs of mental health patients and thus tackle inequalities in health.
Great inequity in health workers distribution around the world
Health workforce shortage is becoming an urgent problem in high income countries ( including Switzerland). In order to respond to an increasing need, health workers have been drained from other countries ( including from developing countries).
But when looking at the availability of health workers around the world related to the population needs, there is a great inequity in the distribution of nurses and doctors among countries, which should encourage a more fair distribution of resources and a greater effort in education of health workers across the globe.