About the project

 

There is an urgent need for better indicators for the effectiveness of health systems. Typically accounting for about 9 % of GDP in EU member states, health care expenditure forms an important part of the economy and it is thus important to understand how this expenditure leads to better health of European citizens. Although there are several major determinants of disease, such as genetics, lifestyles and access to material resources, we do know now that health care is an important factor, too.

Since its introduction in the 1970's by Rutstein, the concept of amenable mortality has been used to measure the contribution health care makes to population health and how this varies among and within countries. Amenable mortality reflects deaths from conditions that should not occur in the presence of effective and timely health care.

There is a need for renewed research efforts in the area of amenable mortality. The AMIEHS project aims to develop a "new" list of indicators (causes of death) for which mortality rates are likely to reflect variations in the effectiveness of health care, with health care being limited to primary care, hospital care and personalized health services.

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