Icelandic Healthcare System

Abstract

Today the whole world continues to look at the surrounding reality through the prism of the coronavirus. A few months ago, in our relatively prosperous life without quarantine, the world-famous Bloomberg agency compiled another rating of countries according to the health index, on top of which were Spain and Italy. When compiling this rating, the average life expectancy of the population, the level of economic development, geographical location, prevalence of bad habits, the availability of clean drinking water, etc. were taken into account. The combination of these indicators provides data for the formation of a health index, which in Spain amounted to 92.8, and in Italy - 91.6. It is believed that the main factor contributing to the high health index in these countries is the favorable climate and the ability to keep to the Mediterranean diet, which is based on olive oil, seafood and a large amount of fruits and vegetables. However, as the tragic reality shows, countries with the best organization of the healthcare system in the world were not able to withstand the epidemic. What is the situation in the country that is the third of the top three in the ranking compiled by Bloomberg - Iceland? There is neither a favourable climate, nor olive oil, nor fresh shrimps, and the average temperature in the summer months there is +10°C. Nevertheless, in terms of life expectancy, this country left behind all the Scandinavian countries and came close to Singapore and Japan. And if we talk about the prevalence of coronavirus, then as of early April, as a result of testing of 4.7% of the population 1364 cases were found in the country, and the number of deaths was only 4. A mass examination of citizens, notably free of charge for everyone, immediate tracking of the routes of infection and isolation of the ill allowed the Icelandic authorities to take control of the situation from the very beginning of the epidemic, even without the introduction of strict restrictive measures [1].