EU Youth health indicators: webpage updated

EU Youth health indicators: webpage updated

While respecting Member States’ overall responsibility for youth policy, the EU Youth Strategy sets out a framework for cooperation covering the years 2010-2018 in eight areas: education & training, employment & entrepreneurship, health & well-being, participation, voluntary activities, social inclusion, youth & the world, creativity & culture.

The strategy has two main objectives. Firstly to provide more and equal opportunities for young people in education and the job market, and secondly to encourage young people to actively participate in society. These objectives are achieved through a dual approach which includes youth initiatives targeted at young people. The initiatives aim to encourage non-formal learning, participation, voluntary activities, youth work, mobility and sharing of information.

In addition, by mainstreaming cross-sector initiatives, the goal is to ensure that youth issues are taken into account when formulating, implementing and evaluating policies and actions in other fields with a significant impact on young people, such as education, employment or health and well-being.

In May 2015 the European Commission launched the European Youth Monitor and published 41 statistical indicators on the state of young people in the European Union. Based on the Youth Dashboard [SEC(2011)401], the Youth Monitor provides information on the eight fields of action of the EU Youth Strategy, including health and well-being.

The EU Youth Report regularly provides information about the state of play of youth in the EU. When possible, the report uses the European Core Health Indicators (ECHI) as a reference in the health and well-being chapter.

The Commission Recommendation of 20 February 2013 'Investing in children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage' provides an indicator-based monitoring framework including indicators on children's health.

When drafting health proposals, policymakers require data on a wide range of factors affecting health, such as the social, economic and administrative environment.

The EU compiles indicators on many of these issues outlined below.

Sustainable development indicators

In 2016 the European Commission launched a Communication on Next steps for a sustainable European future [COM(2016)739]. It maps the policies contributing to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular for the SDG 3 to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

Yearly EU monitoring is based on the EU SDG indicator set. The following 6 indicators were selected for Goal 3 on health and well-being:

• Life expectancy at birth
• Self-perceived health
• Smoking prevalence
• Preventable and treatable mortality
• Death rate due to tuberculosis, HIV and hepatitis
• Self-reported unmet need for medical care.

In addition, indicators for other SDG Goals have also been attributed to Goal 3 as 'multi-purpose indicator' such as:

• Obesity rate
• People killed in accidents at work
• People killed in road accidents
• Disturbance by noise
• Concentration of particulate matter.

Some of these indicators are common to the European Core Health Indicators (ECHI) shortlist.

Evaluating progress

The European Commission evaluates progress towards the agreed goals in a yearly report on SDG monitoring. Last report is available together with several additional tools to assess the EU situation.

• EU approach to sustainable development
• Eurostat overview on Sustainable Development Goals
• GDP and beyond
• Greening the European Semester
• Global health
• Measuring Distance to the SDG Targets - An assessment of where OECD countries stand (June 2017)

European Pillar of Social Rights

The European Pillar of Social Rights is to deliver on a more social and fair Europe and is a key priority for the European Commission. The Public support / Social protection and inclusion strand includes indicators on health care:

• Self-reported unmet need for medical care
• Out-of-pocket expenditure on healthcare
• Healthy life years at 65.

See also the EU social indicators and Joint Assessment Framework (JAF) on health.

EU Youth health indicators

The EU Youth Strategy sets out a framework for cooperation from 2020-2027. It focuses on three core areas of action, around the three words: Engage Connect Empower, while working on joined-up implementation across sectors. Eleven European Youth Goals identify cross-sectoral areas that affect young people’s lives and point out challenges, including mental health and wellbeing.

• EU Youth indicators dashboard

See also the 2017 module on children’s health from the EU-SILC (European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions) survey.

Healthcare quality indicators and patient reported measures

The Health Care Quality Indicators project (HCQI), led by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with European Commission support, aims to measure and compare the quality of health services in different countries. The key areas are:

• Primary Care
• Acute Care
• Mental Health Care
• Cancer Care
• Patient Safety
• Responsiveness and Patient Experiences

Typically, the success of health care is assessed on the basis of survival rates, or rates of cure, after treatment. This tends to mask important differences, which only emerge when considering outcomes and experiences reported by patients themselves.

Supported by the Commission, OECD’s Patient-Reported Indicators Survey (PaRIS) will address critical information gaps and build a patient-centred view of health system performance.

Work on accelerating the adoption and reporting of patient-reported indicators in individual disease areas (breast cancer, hip and knee replacements and mental health) and a new international patient survey is being developed (focusing on complex, chronic conditions being treated in primary care).