OECD health at a glance report 2013

A major overview of health in Ireland published today shows that the Irish are still near the top of the international league table for smoking and drinking and have a greater propensity towards obesity than people in many other countries.  

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Health at a Glance 2013 report confirms the serious impact of the recession on health spending which had been growing in Ireland at 7 per cent annually during the boom years between 2000 and 2009. 

The report says that the fall in Irish spending reflects the substantial reforms undertaken, including cuts to cost of health care, such as wages and pharmaceuticals.

But the report also confirms the encouraging progress made in combating serious illnesses in the last two decades. Deaths due to cancer fell by 21 per cent, ischemic heart disease by 59 per cent and cerebrovascular disease by 54 per cent between 1990 and 2011. In all three instances, the rate of decline was greater than the OECD average.

However, the smoking data comes from 2007 and therefore may not give a completely accurate picture of current trends.

Click here for link to full article in the Irish Times