Health Status In East European Countries

Abstract

The 1990s are a time of tremendous change in Eastern Europe, as the former Soviet bloc countries adopt democratic reform and restructure their socialist economies to introduce market forces and capitalism. Within the overall framework of reform, major changes are being proposed for the health systems of these countries. Thus it is timely to provide a baseline assessment of the current health status of East European populations and how these countries compare with West European countries and the United States. These assessments of life expectancy and mortality rates for selected conditions can be used to assess potential problem areas that warrant particular attention in health care reforms and can serve as benchmarks against which to measure future progress in improving populations’ health. This DataWatch examines health indicators for seven countries in Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, eastern Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia) and compares them to the eighteen countries of Western Europe, using data from the Health for All database of the Regional Office for Europe of the World Health Organization (WHO). This database was developed to monitor health indicators as part of WHO’s global strategy for the attainment of health for all by the year 2000. Member states supply WHO with data for 144 health indicators that can be used to monitor populations’ health status through changes in life expectancy and selected morbidity and mortality rates. Information for most indicators in the Health for All database is obtained from routine statistical reports or provided directly by WHO’s member states. To permit cross-national comparisons, crude mortality rates are age-adjusted to the European standard population using the direct method for age adjustment. For this analysis, weighted averages for the East and West European countries have been calculated to facilitate the identification of major differences between the East and