Exploring Health Policy Development in Europe

Countries in Europe have long recognized that good health care, though essential, is not in itself sufficient to improve health or to reduce the increasing gaps in health status between the rich and the poor. In 1984, together with WHO, they adopted and many attempted actively to implement, what has become known as the health for all policy. This called for a radical shift from health services planning to an approach based on setting objectives and targets for health, requiring partnerships with industry, agriculture and commerce and settings such as workplaces and schools. It also required changes in behaviour and action to ensure a fairer distribution of the determinants of health, such as income, education, employment opportunities, and adequate food and housing. This volume provides a broad overview of how the 51 countries in the WHO European Region set about this ambitious task. The study's findings are based on replies to checklists sent to the Member States, a set of country profiles (given as an annex), published policy documents, and case studies written by people who were involved in the process in their own countries or regions. Examining how countries used some of the policy instruments open to them as they strove to close the health gaps, the study explores how far the rhetoric was accompanied by the necessary action and whether countries were able to move from their traditional ways of working, and poses questions as to whether this approach will be sufficient to meet the challenges of the future.