Successes and failures of health policy in Europe. Four decades of divergent trends and converging challenges

In the last 40 years, the health of Europeans overall has improved markedly, yet progress has been very uneven from country to country. This report considers the impact health policy has had on population health. It asks questions about mortality trends and health policy activity, such as:

+ Do differences in rates of disease reflect differences in related policies?

+ What would a country gain if it implemented the policies of the best performing country?

+ Which social, economic and political factors influence a country's success in health policy?

By offering a comparative analysis of the successes and failures of health policy in most of the countries of the WHO European Region, it helps readers identify best practices for health improvement in the following areas: tobacco; alcohol; food and nutrition; fertility, pregnancy and childbirth; child health; infectious diseases; hypertension; cancer screening; mental health; road traffic injuries; and air pollution.