Gaining health : analysis of policy development in European ...

years, there have been strenuous attempts to better reflect
socioeconomic inequalities in this database.
With the establishment of the Lithuanian Health Information
Centre (LSIC), the evidence base for policy development
goes a step further. LSIC gathers and processes
information on health status, the activity and resources of
health care institutions and human resources, publishing this
in a statistical yearbook.
What is perhaps more important is that LSIC currently
provides about 1400 indicators, collected from the statistical
service, various ministries, and educational and scientific
institutions, relating to demography, mortality and morbidity,
health behaviour, health care facilities, environmental
health and health care financing. The system is designed to
display statistical data in a user-friendly way to identify areas
where interventions may be needed. The system can help
find a problem, possible reasons of the problem or possible
ways of solving the problem. In this way, the information
base is opened up to researchers and local authorities and
for the training of students.
The area of qualitative research is still new in Lithuania, and
given the long and successful epidemiological tradition will
need strong proponents if the potential in this field is to
be realized and utilized for NCD policy development. The
CINDI policy surveys offer one approach in this direction.
3.4. Communication and public
information/involvement
The strong involvement of Parliament mentioned above
has been one of the ways in which NCD policy issues are
brought to the attention of the public, since parliamentary
discussions on health are broadcast by national radio and
broadly reported. There is also a tradition of organizing
consensus-building conferences to discuss health challenges.
Laws dealing with the control of certain health risks specify
that national radio and television designate a certain amount
of time to health education.
According to the Open Society Fund, workers in the ministries
and regional and local administrations in Lithuania
are still reluctant to communicate with society by e-mail.
Considerable attempts have been made to improve information
on public health web sites, and some of these allow
for interaction with the public.
As far as can be judged from their English translations,
policy documents appear to be written in a reasonably accessible
style but, as in many countries, these probably aim
at the educated middle class. There do not appear to have
been serious efforts as yet to provide popularized versions.
The lack of financial resources for this might be a partial
explanation.
4. Forces facilitating or obstructing disease
prevention and health promotion
Lithuania was particularly motivated to prepare for change
in the health field, in the framework of general changes in
the political situation and the gaining of independence.
During the Soviet period, Lithuanian experts were closely
involved in international health promotion developments
relating to NCD, including the main WHO and other
international networks. Throughout the transition period,
a small number of highly respected leaders in public health
played (and continue to play) an enormously influential role
in guiding policy developments within the country and in
making Lithuania’s presence felt at the international level.
The medical profession, or at least its leaders acting through
the Medical Association, have not been an obstacle to
health promotion. On the contrary, they were quick to take
on board the concept of tackling the determinants of health
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Case studies: policy development in countries for tackling noncommunicable diseases