| Abstract [eng] |
Gintarė Badaukytė (supervisor / academic adviser / dr. doc. Daiva Skučienė) HEALTH POLICY PROBLEMS IN THE AGEING SOCIETY Master Thesis. V.: VU Department of Social Work, 2016. 87 p. SUMMARY In European Union countries, including Lithuania, the following are mentioned as the main challenges of an aging population health care system: ensuring continuous funding for health care, disease prevention, treatment, ensuring the sustainable development of long-term care and nursing services, securing the access to quality services for all members of the public, promotion and fosterage of healthy lifestyle. Aging population trends suggest that in order to increase healthy life years the priorities of the health system should not only be the treatment of diseases but also its prevention. The aim of this work: to analyze the health policy challenges posed by an aging population. To achieve this objective, the aims are as follows: to analyze the concept of aging population, the demographic factors that influence aging, the characteristics of healthy aging; to examine the concept of health policy and its challenges posed by an aging population; to analyze the importance of strengthening the health in the aging population conditions; to define the concepts of primary health care (PHC) accesability and to ascertain the population's attitutude towards the availability and quality of primary health care ( PHC) services. In order to accomplish the aim and to achieve the objectives the following research methods have been used: scientific literature analysis; documents analysis; Secondary Eurostat (2011 - 2014), Lithuanian Depatment of Statistics (2015), Eurobarometer 80.2 (2013); 72.3 (2009), OECD (2012) , World Bank (2012-2013), the World Health Organization (WHO) (2015) data analysis. Descriptive statistics, correlation, hierarchical cluster analysis method, Chi -square criteria, Mann Whitney, Kruskal Walls test are used for data analysis. The study revealed that in 2013 Lithuania 's GDP on health care funding was almost two times lower compared to that of other EU countries. Most of the Lithuanian population do not take sufficient care of a healthy lifestyle. Smoking among men in Lithuania is more prevalent than the average of other EU countries, however, the indicators for women are the opposite - they smoke less than the women of other EU countries. The population of Lithuania are among those consuming the most alcohol per year. In comparison to other EU countries, the rates of physical activity among Lithuanian population are higher than average. High blood pressure and obesity rates in the Lithuanian population are higher compared to the EU average. In Lithuanian, higher numbers of the population are suffering from heart and circulatory system deseases compared to other EU countries. The numbers of Lithuanian population with long-term health problems are lower than the average in the EU countries. Health care services in Lithuania are rated as moderate (compared to other EU countries). Subjective health assessment is caused by objective health condition. With age deteriorates not only subjective health evaluation, but also the objective health. In Lithuania, there are fewer men and women who evaluate their health as good or very good compared to the average in the EU. For Lithuanians, the most important health care system quality indicators are professional medical personnel, effective treatment, modern medical equipment and the opportunity to freely choose a doctor. The correlation between the respondent's age and healt system evaluation has been observed. The older respondent the worse the evaluation. |
