Concerns about health situation in UK and Austria
Saturday, August 13, 2005
A study in the UK has found that a so called "health inequality gap" between rich and poor, measured by infant mortality and life expectancy, has increased. Progress in narrowing the gap has been made on child poverty and improving housing, as well as cancer and heart disease death rates. Still, the life expectancy in the wealthiest areas of Britain is seven to eight years longer than the poorest areas.
The public health minister, Caroline Flint, said so-called "health trainers" would be provided for poorer areas (along with extra funding) in order to help people adopt "a healthier way of life". The government had pledged to reduce the inequality gap by 10% between 1997 and 2010.
Concerns have also been raised about the level of health care in Austria. Cancer and heart specialists have criticised the Austrian system. They argue that, due to lack of funds, patients are not treated as well as in other countries. Critics see these developments as leading to two-class medical care systems. Health minister Maria Rauch-Kallat has denied the allegations, saying that "everyone gets what they need". In a related move, non-monetary remunerations by pharmaceutical companies for doctors prescribing certain drugs have also come under heavy criticism.
Sources
edit- "Health inequality gap 'widening'" — BBC News, August 11, 2005
- David Batty and agencies. "Health gap between rich and poor 'still growing'" — The Guardian, August 11, 2005
External links
edit The text of this article has been released into the public domain. In the event that this is not legally possible, this article may be used for any purpose, without any condition, unless such conditions are required by law. This applies worldwide. Copyright terms on images, however, may vary, so please check individual image pages prior to duplication. Please note that this only applies to Wikinews content created prior to September 25, 2005. All content created after that date is released under a Creative Commons license which is mentioned at the bottom of each article. This is currently the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License. |