The impact of under-investment on health in Southern and Central Eastern European Countries

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Better health improves human capital and is a driver to economic growth. The allocation of resources to national health systems should be prioritized as investment and not expense/cost.

Areas covered

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of Underinvestment on Medicines and Health in the Southern and Central Eastern European Countries. Two main databases were used for the purpose of this paper. Time series macro data covering the period 1960–2021, and micro data from SHARE survey for 322,724 individuals aged 50 and over from the European Countries.

Expert opinion

Evidence across the Southern and Central Eastern Èuropean Member States reveals the significant underinvestment in health and medicines and the need for policy intervention to improve access and health outcomes. Further reductions in healthcare budgets would increase unmet needs the prevalence of multimorbidity and the out-of-pocket burden on households leading to catastrophic payments for medicines and health-care services. Public health actions should be undertaken by the International Organizations and National Governments to bridge the gap in health investment, by improving access, tackling health inequalities, and reducing the burden of catastrophic payments.

KEYWORDS:

• Central Eastern Europe
• health system satisfaction
• life expectancy gains
• Southern Europe
• underinvestment in healthcare
• unmet needs

Declaration of interest

The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants, patents received or pending, or royalties.

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my sincere appreciation for all insightful comments and valuable suggestions received by Sophia Aldwinckle and the three anonymous reviewers. And thank you to Stamatia Komninou for her linguistic assistance. Sincere thanks is also due to Viatris for financial support.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded. The larger project on which some of the findings are presented was funded by Viatris.