Health in a post-pandemic EU

WHO CARES?
This is a human rights issue, we talk
about the European social welfare
model. So let’s make sure in the
first place that we are supporting
people in the best possible way.”
Alfonso Lara-Montero
Within Europe, the split between formal,
informal, community, and facility-based
care differs from region to region. Homecare
services and community-based care
are often the most difficult to access,
since they are underdeveloped in many
countries.
Home and community-based services
are most developed in the Nordic countries
such as Denmark and Finland, while
countries in the southern region face insufficient
availability of home care provision.
One of the consequences of the
priority given to home care and community-based
provision has been that the
availability of residential care has been
decreasing in several European countries
over the past 25 years.
and Policies explored the possibilities
of ‘win–win’ politics that produce good
outcomes for people of all ages, with a
focus on embracing social determinants
of health and allowing economic productivity
even at old age.
In order to keep healthcare systems affordable
and sustainable, governments
are increasingly taking into consideration
the reliance on informal care provided by
family members, friends, or neighbours.
The assumption is that more emphasis
on this type of informal care will eventually
alter societal norms towards more
family responsibility in care provision, so
that people will become more inclined
to take care of ageing family members
themselves.
“This is a human rights issue,” explains
Alfonso. “We talk about the European
social welfare model. So let’s make sure
in the first place that we are supporting
people in the best possible way.” That
means providing the type and quality
of care that best suits the individual –
whether that is institutional, community,
or informal care. •
“A human rights issue”
Population ageing is often treated as a
threat to the sustainability of health systems.
As such, policies are often framed
around reducing overall costs and the
financial burden to states.
In 2021, the Economic Policy Committee
produced a set of long-term projections
of age-related expenditure, finding
that age-related expenditure as a share
of GDP is projected to increase in coming
years, driven by long term care and
healthcare.
However, analysis done by the European
Observatory on Health Systems
Informal care has been estimated to have
an economic value equivalent to 50 to 90
percent of the overall cost of long-term
care across the EU. Researchers estimated
that around 80 percent of all care
ceived by people of all ages in the EU is
provided by informal carers – of which
two thirds are women.
Gender inequalities are a constant challenge
in health delivery, and even more
so in the context of ageing. The devaluation
of care work and the fact that women
deliver the majority of both paid and
unpaid care are as a result of structural
power imbalances that should be addressed
in policy.
About
Charles Ebikeme
Dr. Charles Ebikeme is a science
writer based in London. He holds
a PhD in Parasitology and has
worked across science and policy.
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