HEALTH POLICY

Health is a standard of psychical and mental well being appropriate to a particular society. Of course, health depends on a number of factors, they are: biological and environmental factors, and the standard of living.

There are several differences in UK’s health policy comparing to Lithuania’s health policy. In UK there are clear differences in the incidence of ill by social class. People in lower social class, including children, are more likely to suffer from infective diseases, poisoning or violence. Adults in lower social classes more often suffer from cancer and heart diseases. This problem in Lithuania is even bigger. Not only because cultural and behavioral facts but also because of historical facts.

Health care in UK and Lithuania can be divided in several categories. Firstly, hospital care guarantees help for every person, no matter of which social class, if he has problems with health. Next – primary care. It is non-hospital care of all family members, for example dentistry, optics and pharmacy. The most important issue is public health. It includes housing, water supplies, food hygiene. Both countries have differences in dealing with health policy problems but the main facts are probably the same.

In UK and Lithuania people receive health care as a right to welfare. If a person wants to get a health care he has to be registered in his local hospital. The biggest problem is with homeless people. They have no home and no address so they are unable to register and get proper health care. In Britain social policy is better than in Lithuania, so this problem is not as big as in Lithuania. In UK there are a lot of day centers and other institutions for those people, though in Lithuania the situation is different, it is still an ongoing process.

Lithuania should promote a healthy lifestyle because the statistics show that our society is getting fat. Also, it should strengthen disease prevention and take measures against children abuse, violence, and addiction to tobacco, alcohol and drugs. I hope that Lithuania’s health policy will soon get closer to UK’s health policy, looking from good position.