From 90s to present day: how the current health status of South-Eastern Europe came about
Have you ever wondered why all the documents found on healthcare status and systems in the SEE (South-Eastern Europe)- countries start counting from the 1990’s? Or questioned how healthcare systems in this area developed? Have you ever wondered how the present composition of countries, presently forming SEE, formed? Probably not, but in fact these questions are important to answer before digging deeper into the current health status of this area. Let’s cut away the grass from your feet.
Starting with the countries actually belonging to SEE, it might be important to notice that there are conflicting definitions as to where this region begins or ends. Whereas the countries seen in figure 1 on the left are considered part of nearly every source or article found, Greece, Turkey and Moldova are only included in some.
How come? The most important reason is that since the early 1990s, SEE-countries have made a transition from a communistic regime towards a market economy.
Since then, social unrest, civil wars and disagreements on how to continue life, lead the country and where to set its boundaries are widespread. Even nowadays it is still the point of view of the observer together with historical, political, economic, cultural and geographical considerations that divide opinions on the actual composition of South-Eastern Europe. So, what countries to include when talking about this region and what not? Let’s agree on taking all of them, including Greece, Turkey and Moldova, in when talking about SEE on this blog.
Building a bridge to the health status of SEE in the 90’s, previously mentioned; unrest, civil war and lack of good leadership caused large groups of the South-East European population to be displaced. This led to rapid spread of and vulnerability to communicable diseases like Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, West Nile fever and Influenza among the population. Moreover, healthcare systems faced difficulties by reaching out to the sick; systematic reporting lacked, outbreak investigations were disorganized and with financial support for health practices not being in place, SEE-countries were in much need of the regional surveillance that the South-Eastern European Health network (SEEHN) brought in 2002.
Despite the fact that SEE-countries are working together on the health of South-Eastern Europe, the health status of the countries still lags a long way behind that of the EU-15 countries, described as the fifteen main countries taking part in the EU. Moreover, the disparities are more pronounced now than they were at the beginning of the 1990s. Both life expectancy for men and women lies below those in EU-15 countries, with current trends being a widening of this gap. New infectious diseases are emerging, while old diseases like tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS reappear. Incidence rates of non-communicable diseases like cerebrovascular disease, Ischaemic heart disease, diabetes and unipolar depressive disorder are on a rise. What about chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, mainly attributed to alcohol? Can they have a relationship with the mentioned depression rates and almost doubled suicide rates compared to EU-15 countries that can be found? Let’s not look away and pretend those problems and disparities don’t exist. Let’s start spreading awareness on them and SEEing the double burden!
