Prevention is less costly than cure

By Emily Smith

Date: 26/01/06

Governments of the EU could reduce healthcare bills by investing in preventative policies to make Europe a safer place, according to healthcare lobby groups.

Diana Smith of the European Public Health Alliance Environment Network (EEN) says smoking bans and better food labelling are two steps that governments could take to bring down long-term health costs.

EEN Director Genon Jensen says that there is no question that lifestyle changes could cut healthcare bills, "but they can also be reduced by policy changes that make our environments safer".

One perhaps surprising huge healthcare saving, say lobby groups, comes in the at-first-glance unrelated field of traffic safety.

More than 40,000 people die on EU roads each year, with more than 1.7 million injured. The European Commission estimates this drains EUR 160 billion from public spending every year.

"There is never one single answer" to the problem of cutting EU healthcare costs, says Joanne Vincenten of the European Child Safety Alliance. "But if we have to tackle a priority area here is one," she adds.

"If we really want to make a difference and if politicians want a very quick return on their investment, this is a good chance for them."

The figures are particularly worrying for children, says Vincenten, with road accidents the main cause of child mortality in most EU countries.

Traffic is responsible for around half of all child deaths in Spain, Denmark and Luxembourg.

Vincenten says however that evidence from other EU countries shows the death toll - and the healthcare bill - can be slashed.

France in particular has worked hard since 2003 to improve road safety, investing for example in speed cameras and publicity campaigns. The French government also introduced probationary licences for new drivers and tougher penalties for illegal driving.

French road deaths dropped to fewer than 5,000 in 2004 from more than 8,000 in 1996 and provisional 2005 figures suggest a further decline.

A UK report published by the transport ministry in 2003 claimed Britain had saved more than EUR 320m in healthcare costs by introducing speed cameras - at a cost of about EUR 80m.

The long-term savings, claims Vincenten, are even bigger. She says: "If you're looking from an economic perspective then we have to invest in children to invest in the older generations. Looking at the number of children who don't make it to adulthood, how can we continue to exist in this way? How will we be able to afford to pay pensions, for example?"

Health lobby groups are relatively new to the political scene, unlike environmental non governmental organisations (NGOs) which have been around for decades.

The European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) for example was started up in 1993, at a time when, according to its mission statement, "for many people the word 'health' was applied only to health services. The idea that governmental or EU policy could influence citizens' health status through action on the determinants of health was new to most people."

The flowering of this and similar groups since the 1990s, suggests Vincenten, signals a change in popular attitudes to health. "People [in Europe] always felt health was taken care of by the government, but now people have started to ask more questions. Health NGOs are there to provide very specific information and support governments."

Widespread insecurity about future healthcare may also have helped. "Healthcare was always seen as a right. But is that true? Is it our right to drink too much and expect healthcare to help?"

Health groups hope to help governments tread the newly discovered fine line between public and private responsibility for our wellbeing in the 21st century.

Governments of the EU could reduce healthcare bills by investing in preventative policies to make Europe a safer place, according to healthcare lobby groups. Article is part of a European Voice Special Report 'Healthcare'.