|
Republic
of Latvia
Cabinet
Order No. 589
Adopted 14 October 2014
|
On the Public Health Policy
Guidelines 2014-2020
1. To support the Public Health Policy Guidelines 2014-2020
(hereinafter - the Guidelines).
2. To determine the Ministry of Economics, the Ministry of
Finance, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Education
and Science, the Ministry of Welfare, the Ministry of Transport,
the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Environmental Protection
and Regional Development and the Ministry of Agriculture as the
institutions responsible for implementation of the tasks
specified in the Guidelines (hereinafter - the responsible
institutions).
3. To determine the Ministry of Health as the responsible
institution for ensuring control of the implementation of the
Guidelines.
4. For the responsible institutions to submit information to
the Ministry of Health regarding the progress and results of the
fulfilment of the tasks specified in the Guidelines up to 1 July
2017 and 1 July 2021.
5. For the Ministry of Health to prepare and for the Minister
for Health to submit the following informative reports to the
Cabinet according to specific procedures:
5.1. up to 1 November 2017 - the interim report on
implementation of the Guidelines;
5.2. up to 1 November 2021 - the final report on
implementation of the Guidelines, including proposals on the
development of public health policy for subsequent years.
6. The respective institutions shall ensure the implementation
of the measures provided in the Guidelines in 2014 within the
scope of the State budget resources assigned, in turn, the issue
on assigning additional State budget resources for implementation
of the measures provided for in the Guidelines for 2015-2020
shall be examined in the process of preparation of a draft
Cabinet law on the State budget for the current year and a draft
law on the medium-term budget framework together with proposals
of all ministries and other central State authorities for new
policy initiatives according to the financial possibilities of
the State budget.
7. Cabinet Order No. 504 of 5 October 2011, On the Public
Health Policy Guidelines 2011-2017 (Latvijas Vēstnesis,
2011, No. 158), is repealed.
Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma
Minister for Finance Andris Vilks
(Cabinet Order No. 589 of
14 October 2014)
Summary
of the Public Health Policy Guidelines 2014-2020
The Public Health Policy Guidelines 2014-2020 (hereinafter -
the Guidelines) are a medium-term policy planning document, which
is based on the World Health Organisation Regional Strategy for
Europe "Health 2020" and has been drawn up in order to update the
situation description included in the Public Health Policy
Guidelines 2011-2017, formulation of the problems, objectives,
policy results, the tasks defined in action
directions1, and to align them with the National
Development Plan of Latvia 2014-2020 and the new financial
planning period.
The main causes of death of inhabitants of Latvia are
non-communicable diseases: mainly cardiovascular diseases,
malignant tumours and external causes of death.
The development of non-communicable diseases is largely
influenced by factors related to the lifestyle - unhealthy diet,
insufficient physical activity, and harmful habits (smoking, use
of alcohol and drugs). The most efficient prevention measures for
cardiovascular diseases are to quit smoking, regular physical
activities, to choose healthy diet and to maintain adequate body
weight.
Health and development of a child in prenatal period and
during the first year of life is mainly determined by health of
his or her mother and father, as well as the knowledge of the
parents regarding their own health and health of the child
expected and their care for the child. However, the knowledge of
parents on the negative impact of using addictive substances on
the health of the pregnant woman and the foetus, on the
significance of commencing health care of a pregnant woman in due
time and on preventive measures for reducing child injury is
insufficient.
Each year the potential years of life lost due to external
causes of death in Latvia (up to 64 years of age) exceed 40
thousand. Mortality due to external causes of death in Latvia is
approximately twice as high as on average in the European Union.
It may be prevented by promoting environmental safety (for
example, road traffic safety, housing safety), as well as by
educating the public regarding the impact of lifestyle habits and
behaviour on the health of an individual.
The spread of several communicable diseases in many countries
across the world, including Latvia, has been interrupted,
restricted or completely eliminated by introducing new efficient
vaccines, by improving the epidemiological surveillance system,
as well as by efficiently co-ordinating international action in
cases of epidemic. However, the risks of epidemic still exist
because nowadays communicable diseases spread very quickly,
without respecting state borders and the living standards in the
state. One of the most significant preconditions for ensuring
high quality and sustainable health care is supervision and
control of antimicrobial resistance.
The health care system does not have sufficient financial
support from the State, as well as there is a high level of
direct payments of patients, and it has a significant impact on
access to health care. The health care system solves neglected
health problems because patients do not always have the
possibility to find a doctor in due time.
The overarching objective of the public health policy is to
increase the number of healthy life years of inhabitants of
Latvia and to prevent premature death, preserving, improving and
restoring health.
The tasks to be carried out until 2020:
- to increase the number of healthy life years by three years
(to reach 57 years for men and 60 years for women in 2020);
- to reduce the indicator of potential years of life lost by
11% (up to 64 years of age) (to achieve 5 300 per 100 000
inhabitants in 2020).
The following sub-objectives have been brought forward for
achieving the overarching objective of the policy:
1. To prevent inequality in the field of health by taking
measures in order to ensure equal health promotion and health
care opportunities for inhabitants of Latvia.
2. To reduce premature mortality from non-communicable
diseases by reducing the negative impact of risk factors on
health.
3. To improve the health of a mother, father and child, to
reduce infant mortality.
4. To promote healthy and safe life and working environment,
to reduce injuries and mortality from external causes of
death.
5. To reduce morbidity of inhabitants from communicable
diseases.
6. To ensure efficient management of the health care system
and rational utilisation of resources in order to improve the
sustainability of operation of the health care system and equal
access for all inhabitants of Latvia to good quality health care
services, which are funded from the State budget resources.
Main action directions for achievement of the objective
brought forward are as follows:
- provision of partnership and intersectoral co-operation,
promoting equal health opportunities for all inhabitants;
- reduction of the spread of non-communicable disease risk
factors;
- health improvement of pregnant women and children;
- reduction of injuries and the impact of environmental risks
on the public health;
- prevention of communicable diseases;
- establishment of a high quality, safe and sustainable system
of health care services (including reduction of patient
contributions, reducing of queues to planned services, increase
of work remuneration for employees of the health care sector,
access to medicinal products for patients), ensuring equal access
to services for all inhabitants of Latvia.
Additional budget resources are necessary for implementation
of the measures provided for in the Guidelines (in comparison to
2014) in 2015 - 105 666 thous. euros, in 2016 - 209 367 thous.
euros, in 2017 - 377 225 thous. euros, in 2018 - 542 494 thous.
euros, in 2019 - 612 334 thous. euros, and in 2020 - 680 910
thous. euros, including:
- to the Ministry of Health in 2015 - 105 666 thous. euros, in
2016 - 204 628 thous. euros, in 2017 - 367 855 thous. euros, in
2018 - 528 605 thous. euros, in 2019 - 598 445 thous. euros, and
in 2020 - 667 021 thous. euros;
- to the Ministry of Education and Science in 2016 - 4 739
thous. euros, in 2017 - 9 370 thous. euros, in 2018 and each year
afterwards - 13 889 thous. euros.
Minister for Finance Andris Vilks
1 The study conducted by the University of Latvia
"Performance of Evaluation for the Drawing up of the Public
Health Policy Guidelines 2014-2020" was used for preparation of
the Guidelines.
Translation © 2016 Valsts valodas centrs (State
Language Centre)
