Eurohealth at Work
Links to reports and some work that the Institute has been involved with over the last 12 years.
Much of our time and effort is spent meeting with other interested groups and individuals as well as public policy makers. The work represented here, is only some of the body of information that we have been involved with in developing. This has been used to support our own, and indeed others, efforts in improving public health and social policy with facts, figures and well constructed arguments.
VALUE+ 2008 - 2010
The European Institute of Women's Health are participating in VALUE+, an EU part funded project as a partner.
VALUE+ is an EU Commission, DG for Public Health supported project to improve the involvement of patient associations in health-related European studies and research. There has been a shift in health policy priorities towards considering a broad spectrum of citizen and patient needs.
There needs to be open, transparent and cooperative health systems, promoting participation and encouraging involvement of patients whenever possible and must form an essential part of all change processes in healthcare systems.
ENABLE
The European Institute of Women's Health are participating in ENABLE, an EU part funded project as a sub contractor
It is a wearable system supporting services to "enable" elderly people to live well, independently and at ease
ENABLE will develop a personal, user-centered support system with services useful to elderly people whether they are in or out of their home. It will reduce the effects of any disability while increasing their quality of life: independence, mobility and communication particularly for improving their levels of care and safety. ENABLE is based on a distributed open platform, allowing other services to be added by third parties by "plugging" in to defined interfaces. The platform includes mobile phone technology to manage and provide specialised communication services for the elderly.
EU Parliament Report
The European Institute of Women's Health launched a Report, "DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN AND YOUNG GIRLS IN THE HEALTH SECTOR", drafted for the EU Parliament . As this is an official report, it is only available from the EU Parliament web site .............
The country reports (8 countries) are avaialable from our site ....more)
- Booklet in PDF - 2 parts
Cancom
The Cancom Project was an initiative to illustrate the information needs of women. At the time, 1996, when the project initiated, women were minority users of informaiton technology and particularly the Internet. Cancom provided women with good quality information that has been used since it went online in 1998. The project also created an internet experience for women on 2 floppy discs that contained the project information and a specially developed version of a browser. Some 600 packs were distributed and woemns groups held over 60 public health information days using the pack and printouts of this. A separate project report analysed the ways in which different groups of women obtained, used and managed information. Cancom presented a very cost effective way of providing good, high value information to people.
- EU Project
Remind
This publication on Dementia Care: Challenges for an Ageing Europe, highlights the challenges posed by Alzheimer's disease and other dementias to European Member States.
The cross-country comparison of policies and practices undertaken in this report provide a valuable assessment of the variation that currently exists regarding treatment of dementia and support of carers. The Institute points out that the challenge facing Europe as a community lies in developing an interdisciplinary combination of medical, clinical, social, economic, governmental and personal approaches to those with dementia and their families.
The report recommendations emphasised that this should be placed on the "personhood" of the dementia patient. This reiterates key policy principles that the underlying goal across the European Union must be to help maintain dementia patients in conditions of dignity and independence as long as possible, with strong support for carers.
- EU Project Report
- For more information
Gender
Gender equity historically focused on equal opportunity in the workplace, fair pay, violence against women, and gender stereotypes. Although these issues continue to deserve further investigation and analysis, the question of gender equity in public health remains a relatively new field of inquiry that has been hreatly inspired by the work of the EIWH. Women are currently living longer than men but are reported as being less healthy. The unique biological distinctions between women and men, individual social influences as well as gender roles, responsibilities, and socio economic class, education, and culture are all factors in vulnerability to illness, access to preventative and curative measures, and the quality of care provided. These elements must be considered in order to achieve equitable treatment for men and women in the sector of public health.
The European Institute of Women's Health took an unprecedented step in heightening awareness of inequality through 'Gender Equity in Public Health in Europe' Conference held from 9th - 12th September 2000. Representatives from the healthcare sector, government officials, medical experts, researchers, NG0s, and Industry professionals attended informative workshops and lectures to facilitate an integrated approach in applying gender perspectives to various health topics.
The recommendations that resulted from the Conference, included the suggestions put forth by participants to correct the gender imbalance in healthcare, targetted policy-makers and the medical and private sectors, along with consumer groups and international organisations. These recommendations will contribute to effective health promotion and disease prevention programnes for both sexes, emphasising early detection and treatment of illness.
- Gender Conference
Women in Europe - Towards Healthy Ageing
This report, Women in Europe - Towards Healthy Ageing is a review of the health status of mid-life and older women. Its publication follows closely on the European Commission's own report on the demographic situation in the European Union.
This review gives a European demographic trends point to an increasingly aged population, especially of women. The number of people over 60 years of age will rise from just over 76 million in 1995 to a projected figure of almost 114 million in 2025. During this same period the number of people under 20 years of age will fall by 11 %. These trends have major implications not only for the cost of health services but also for the facilities and services which will be required in the future. The report points out that planning will result in actions to minimise the adverse effects on women. While focused on older women, it contains lessons for all: young and old, male and female, health professionals and patients.
These issues include a major emphasis on the need for health promotion and education measures. The fact is that a great number of the major illnesses which afflict European citizens are lifestyle-related. Measures to educate citizens on risk avoidance, on better diet, and on the benefits of physical and mental fitness can all play a major part in improving both life expectancy and the quality of life. Moreover, these measures can often be implemented more effectively and at lower cost than more expensive and invasive medical treatments. It may be a cliche but in this respect prevention is better than cure!
The four health areas covered by the review - coronary heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis and depression - health promotion and prevention have a major role to play in mitigating the impact.
The European Commission, for its part, recognises that the health needs of women merit special consideration. In its forthcoming report on Health Status in the European Union, the Commission will, therefore, be including a specific chapter on this subject.
- Older Women's Health
Mid Life and Older Women's Health, Facts and Figures
This review provides an overview of the health of mid-life and older women across Europe, capturing both differences and similarities in women's health between the Member States of the European Union (EU) and countries elsewhere. It examines some key demographic and socio-economic trends, as well as some of the main causes of mortality and morbidity for mid-life and older women.
We have drawn upon many primary and secondary sources of information about health. The level of aggregation varies, ranging from national, Community, European and international levels. Where possible and practicable, the most recent data available have been used.
- Mid Life and Older Women's Health
Research Results
- EIWH Country Reports, developed for the EU Parliament Report "DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN AND YOUNG GIRLS IN THE HEALTH SECTOR" for 8 countires are now available .
- Country Reports Research