Organization and Financing of Public Health Services in Europe

How are public health services in Europe organized and financed? With European health systems facing a plethora of challenges that can be addressed through public health interventions, there is renewed interest in strengthening public health services. Yet, there are enormous gaps in our knowledge. How many people work in public health? How much money is spent on public health? What does it actually achieve? None of these questions can be answered easily.

This volume brings together current knowledge on the organization and financing of public health services in Europe. It is based on country reports on the organization and financing of public health services in nine European countries and an in-depth analysis of the involvement of public health services in addressing three contemporary public health challenges (alcohol, obesity and antimicrobial resistance).

The focus is on four core dimensions of public health services: organization, financing, the public health workforce, and quality assurance. The questions the volume seeks to answer are:

o How are public health services in Europe organized? Are there good practices that can be emulated? What policy options are available?
o How much is spent on public health services? Where do resources come from? And what was the impact of the economic crisis?
o What do we know about the public health workforce? How can it be strengthened?
o How is the quality of public health services being assured? What should quality assurance systems for public health services look like?

This study is the result of close collaboration between the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and the WHO Regional Office for Europe, Division of Health Systems and Public Health. It accompanies two other Observatory publications: Organization and financing of public health services in Europe: country reports and The role of public health organizations in addressing public health problems in Europe: the case of obesity, alcohol and antimicrobial resistance.