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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.
The greatest promise for transformational change is in applications that encourage new, ubiquitous, participatory preventive and personalised smart models of care. A whole new world of possibilities in using mobiles and the Internet to address healthcare challenges has opened up. The potential of mobile devices, services and applications to support self-management, behavioural modification and "participatory healthcare" is greater than ever before.
A key hurdle is, however, the big data challenge, dealing with the exponentially accelerating accumulation of patient data – all of which must be mined, stored securely and accurately, and converted to meaningful information at the point of care. In order to fully exploit the new smart approaches to care, acceptance, privacy and usability issues will also have to be carefully considered.
This profile provides a concise and policy-relevant overview of health and the health system in Iceland as part of the broader series of the State of Health in the EU country profiles. It provides a short synthesis of: the health status in the country; the determinants of health, focussing on behavioural risk factors; the organisation of the health system; and the effectiveness, accessibility and resilience of the health system.
This profile is the joint work of the OECD and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, in co-operation with the European Commission.
This profile provides a concise and policy-relevant overview of health and the health system in Iceland as part of the broader series of the State of Health in the EU country profiles. It provides a short synthesis of: the health status in the country; the determinants of health, focussing on behavioural risk factors; the organisation of the health system; and the effectiveness, accessibility and resilience of the health system. This edition has a special focus on the impact of COVID‑19.
This profile is the joint work of the OECD and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, in co-operation with the European Commission.
This profile provides a concise and policy-focused overview of the state of health and the healthcare system in Iceland, as a part of the broader series of Country Health Profiles from the State of Health in the EU initiative. It presents a succinct analysis encompassing the following key aspects: the current health status in Iceland; the determinants of health, focusing on behavioural risk factors; the organisation of the Icelandic healthcare system; and an evaluation of the health system's effectiveness, accessibility, and resilience. Moreover, the 2023 edition presents a thematic section on the state of mental health and associated services in Iceland.
This profile is the collaborative effort of the OECD and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, carried out in cooperation with the European Commission.
This report is a first step towards building a qualitative understanding of the way illicit or criminal activities interact with the economy, security and development of West African states. Going beyond a traditional analysis of illicit financial flows (IFFs), which typically emphasises the scale of monetary flows, the report examines the nature of thirteen overlapping, and oftentimes mutually reinforcing, criminal and illicit economies, with a view to identify their resulting financial flows and development linkages. In taking this approach, this report identifies the networks and drivers that allow these criminal economies to thrive, with a particular emphasis on the actors and incentives behind them. As a conclusion to this work, this report proposes a series of policy considerations to assist countries to prioritise and focus their responses to reduce the development impacts of IFFs. Resolving the problem of IFFs requires responding to underlying development challenges, and tackling all parts of the problem in source, transit and destination countries.
To contribute to the existing pool of evidence on the dynamic interplay between illicit trade and armed conflicts, this report looks at illicit trade flows in four separate conflict-affected countries in the MENA region: Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen. For the case of Yemen, the report also presents a deep-dive analysis of illicit trade flows and the relevant governance environment. The findings highlight that illicit trade networks in these countries are dynamic, complex, and heavily integrated into regional and global networks.
Trade in illicit alcohol products is an attractive target for organised crime, as both the market and potential profits are large, in some cases requiring little investment. The illicit alcohol trade not only fuels criminal networks, but also poses significant risks to public health and safety. This report structures and enhances existing evidence on illicit alcohol trade. It examines the nature and scope of illicit trade in the sector, assesses the impacts of illicit trade on socio-economic development, and identifies the factors driving illicit trade in the sector.
Rapid economic and social change in both inner cities and suburbs has created new challenges for the integration of immigrants and their descendants. What is the role of immigration in urban development and neighbourhood change? What are the impacts of urban change on immigrants and their chances of integration? The history of urban development and the characteristics of immigrant populations -- size, origins, the range of groups represented and their history, length of residence and civic status -- vary across countries. The process of integration may thus vary considerably at different times and for different immigrant groups.
This publication analyses in detail the nature and content of policies being implemented to promote the integration of immigrants in urban areas. It examines how the changing socio-economic context in cities may affect immigrants and the advantages and disadvantages of urban concentrations of immigrants, drawing on examples from cities in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States. It also highlights the importance of associating not only immigrants and key local actors, but the concerned wider population as well, in defining and implementing urban development and integration policies.
This report analyses the sequence of labour market support that individuals receive and evaluates two large public works programmes. It uses rich administrative data and finds positive labour market impacts of the Community Employment and Tús employment programmes. Building on the results of the analyses, the report makes recommendations on how Ireland can further adapt its active labour market policies (ALMPs) to better support its current and future jobseekers. This report on Ireland is the thirteenth country study published in a series of reports on policies to connect people with jobs, and is part of a joint project with the European Commission to strengthen countries’ capacity to evaluate ALMPs. The report is written jointly by the OECD, the Department of Social Protection of Ireland and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.
Water and its improved governance are critical for economic growth, social inclusiveness and environmental sustainability. Three years after the adoption of the OECD Water Governance Principles, this report takes stock of their use and dissemination. It provides a water governance indicator framework and a set of evolving practices for bench-learning, building on lessons learned from different countries and contexts.
Based on an extensive bottom up and multi-stakeholder process within the OECD Water Governance Initiative (WGI), these tools are conceived of as voluntary methodologies to be carried out at country, region, basin and/or city levels to improve water policies. The indicator framework is composed of a traffic light system based on 36 input and process indicators and a checklist with questions on a number of more specific governance conditions. The framework concludes with an action plan to help prioritise steps towards better design and implementation of water policies.
With consistent cross-country information on these issues largely absent, the OECD has used lessons learned from case studies in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United States to identify the opportunities offered by ICTs and to analyse under what conditions these technologies are most likely to result in efficiency and quality-of-care improvements. The findings highlight a number of practices or approaches that could usefully be employed in efforts to improve and accelerate the adoption and use of these technologies.
Today’s global policy climate underlines the importance of better addressing non-economic dimensions of well-being and social progress such as health, social engagement, political interest and crime. Education plays an important role in shaping indicators of progress. However, we understand little about the causal effects, the causal pathways, the role of contexts and the relative impacts that different educational interventions have on social outcomes.
This report addresses challenges in assessing the social outcomes of learning by providing a synthesis of the existing evidence, original data analyses and policy discussions. The report finds that education has the potential to promote health as well as civic and social engagement. Education may reduce inequalities by fostering cognitive, social and emotional skills and promoting healthy lifestyles, participatory practices and norms. These efforts are most likely to be successful when family and community environments are aligned with the efforts made in educational institutions. This calls for ensuring policy coherence across sectors and stages of education.
Quality improvement initiatives take many forms, from the creation of standards for health
professionals, health technologies and health facilities, to audit and feedback, and from
fostering a patient safety culture to public reporting and paying for quality. For policymakers
who struggle to decide which initiatives to prioritise for investment, understanding
the potential of different quality strategies in their unique settings is key.
This volume, developed by the Observatory together with OECD, provides an overall conceptual framework for understanding and applying strategies aimed at improving quality of care. Crucially, it summarizes available evidence on different quality strategies and provides
recommendations for their implementation. This book is intended to help policy-makers to
understand concepts of quality and to support them to evaluate single strategies and
combinations of strategies.
Quality of care is a political priority and an important contributor to population health. This
book acknowledges that "quality of care" is a broadly defined concept, and that it is often
unclear how quality improvement strategies fit within a health system, and what their
particular contribution can be. This volume elucidates the concepts behind multiple elements
of quality in healthcare policy (including definitions of quality, its dimensions, related activities,
and targets), quality measurement and governance and situates it all in the wider context of
health systems research. By so doing, this book is designed to help policy-makers prioritize
and align different quality initiatives and to achieve a comprehensive approach to quality
improvement.
The demand for help with daily activities – so-called long-term care – is set to increase in Croatia. The population is ageing at a faster rate than the EU average, and by 2050, about one-third of the population is projected to be aged 65 years and over. In addition, with one of the highest poverty rates among older people in EU countries, at 30%, most older people cannot afford long-term care without public support. However, the long-term care system is both fragmented, with multiple benefits and services across different providers, and underfunded with public expenditure among the lowest across EU countries. As a result, long-term care remains unaffordable for most people even after receiving public support, leading to gaps in access, inequities, and a strong reliance on relatives to provide the bulk of long-term care. This report suggests avenues to improve access and equity of long-term care and proposes policy recommendations to enhance the support for family carers.
This report describes how regulators around the world adapted to the confusion brought by the COVID-19 crisis to ensure the supply of food while maintaining food safety and security. It brings together examples of regulatory responses at regional, national and international levels. The report also discusses how, despite all the challenges, the pandemic has helped uncover new regulatory tools and foster a culture of flexibility and agility in regulatory systems.
The global fleet of powered two-wheelers (PTWs) is constantly increasing. In many countries, motorcycles, scooters and mopeds play a significant role in mobility, particularly in many of the world’s large cities. As such, PTWs are becoming an important component of the transport system. However, they represent an important challenge for road safety. PTW riders are at far more risk than car drivers per kilometre ridden in terms of fatalities and severe injuries entailing long-term disability. Moreover, they have not benefited from safety improvements at the same pace as car occupants over recent decades. Addressing the issue of PTW safety is thus an essential contribution to the success of the United Nations’ Decade of Action for Road Safety, which aims at halving the expected number of road deaths worldwide by 2020.
This report reviews recent trends in powered two-wheeler crashes, the factors contributing to these crashes and their severity. It describes a set of countermeasures targeting user behaviours, the use of protective equipment, the vehicles and the infrastructure. Finally, it discusses motorcycle safety strategies in the context of a safe system.
Are breast cancer survival rates higher in the United States than in the United Kingdom and France? Are a patient's chances of dying within 30 days after admission to a hospital with a heart attack lower in Canada than in Korea? Are surgeons in some countries more likely to leave “foreign bodies” behind after operations or make accidental punctures or lacerations rates when performing surgery? The need for answers to these kinds of questions and the value of measuring the quality of health care are among the issues addressed in this publication.
Many health policies depend on our ability to measure the quality of care accurately. Governments want to increase “patient-centeredness”, improve co-ordination of care, and pay providers of high-quality care more than those who underperform. However, measuring the quality of health care is challenging. The OECD’s Health Care Quality Indicator project has overcome some of the problems, though many remain. If policy makers are serious about improving the body of evidence on the quality of care, they need to improve their health information systems. This publication describes what international comparable quality measures are currently available and how to link these measures to quality policies such as accreditation, practice guidelines, pay-for-performance, national safety programmes and quality reporting.
The gap between rich and poor keeps widening. Growth, if any, has disproportionally benefited higher income groups while lower income households have been left behind. This long-run increase in income inequality not only raises social and political concerns, but also economic ones. It tends to drag down GDP growth, due to the rising distance of the lower 40% from the rest of society. Lower income people have been prevented from realising their human capital potential, which is bad for the economy as a whole. This book highlights the key areas where inequalities are created and where new policies are required, including: the consequences of current consolidation policies; structural labour market changes with rising non-standard work and job polarization; persisting gender gaps; the challenge of high wealth concentration, and the role for redistribution policies.
The rights of students with disabilities to be educated in their local mainstream school is becoming more and more accepted in most countries, and many reforms are being put in place to achieve this goal. Further, there is no reason to segregate disabled students in public education systems; instead, education systems need to be reconsidered to meet the needs of all students. Based on in-depth analysis of inclusive practice in eight countries, this book addresses the issues that arise for such practices to be successful. The most detailed international comparative study ever carried out, this book shows that all students, whatever the type and extent of their disability, can be successfully included in mainstream schools, as long as certain safeguards are ensured.
Nine areas emerge as being of crucial importance: funding models, systems of public accountability for schools, pupil assessment, curriculum development, adult-to-student ratios, the role of classroom assistants, the functioning of support services, the training of teachers and other professionals and community and parental involvement. The country case studies are complemented by comprehensive annexes describing how teachers can be most efficiently prepared for special education, and developing a procedure for cost-effectiveness analysis of special education.
In recent years Korea has stepped up efforts to reduce inequalities in recognition that a fairer economic model is also the most sustainable one. In order to support this new policy direction, the OECD has carried out novel analysis of inclusive growth building on its Framework for Policy Action, developed by the OECD to improve the prospects of the groups left behind. The Inclusive Growth Review of Korea applies, for the first time, the Framework at the national level. Using a dashboard of indicators, the Framework presents policy recommendations to sustain and more equitably share the gains of economic growth by investing in people left behind, supporting business dynamism and inclusive labour markets, and building efficient and responsive governments. In addition, the Inclusive Growth Review of Korea finds that digitalisation risks to compound the disparities of Korean labour markets, and calls for renewed efforts to reduce the lack of opportunities for up- and re-skilling of the working-age population (Chapter 2). To improve the business environment, Korea should address the unbalanced growth across sectors and firm size and unequal distribution of productivity gains across population groups (Chapter 3).