The challenges to public health in Hungary in the twenty-first century

The creation of a new school of public health in Hungary offersan opportunity to reassess existing approaches to postgraduatetraining in public health. This paper describes the philosophybehind the training programme that will be offered by the school.It seeks to equip this new generation with the skills to assessthe health needs of the Hungarian population and to design andimplement effective policies to meet these needs. The task ofthe school will not be easy. It will have to confront strongvested interests. This is illustrated in the paper by a discussionof the activities of the tobacco industry. Finally, they mustbe able to base their activities on up-to-date, research-basedevidence. The wide diversity of skills that will be needed toaddress the health needs of the Hungarian population justifiesthis new, multidisciplinary approach in which alliances willbe forged with all agencies that have the power to contributeto improving health.     

Hospitals for health in the twenty-first century

The following article illustrates the crucial importance for the future of hospitals of in-house education, and of the team approach to resolving problems, through concerted efforts on the part of all the hospital personnel.     

Global public health leadership for the twenty-first century: Towards improved health of all populations

Abstract We are at an unprecedented moment in history in terms of the health of populations around the world. New and old problems all require both short- and long-term solutions, at the individual, community, national and global levels. Unique solutions for each challenge may not be feasible or adequately effective or cost-effective. We are confronted by health systems that are not well matched to current and future needs, both for sustained prevention and chronic care. Moving forward effectively as a field will benefit from a focus on the changing needs of global health, and on how changing conditions, globally, should define the next generation of public health leadership so as to best accomplish global health goals.     

Primary care pediatrics in the public health system of the twenty-first century. SESPAS report 2012

Today in our country, the primary care pediatrician is the first contact between children and adolescents with the health system, being also a highly resolving specialist that addresses over 90% of the health needs of this population, monitors growth and development and participates in all activities of prevention, health promotion and health education within primary care teams with nurses and family doctors. Witnessing rapid and profound demographic, social, cultural, scientific and technological changes as well as the demands and expectations of health care for citizens, which should enhance the value and response capacity of primary care. These changes also affect infant morbidity and health care priorities in child and adolescent, posing new challenges for primary care practice and reinforce the role of the pediatrician in primary care. Primary care is not only the gateway to the health system. Primary care teams have to take responsibility for the care of people assigned to coordinate the necessary resources and advising citizens on their health problems and his itinerary care by the health system. It identifies the need to foster teamwork within the health department involved nursing staff to take care activities in this age group. It aims to foster a model based on cooperation and complementarity. A recent systematic review recommended maintaining the figure of the pediatrician in primary care teams and strengthen their specific role as first point of contact with the child's health care system, found significant benefits for children.     

Creating health and health promoting hospitals: a worthy challenge for the twenty-first century.

States that it seems self-evident that a hospital should be a healing environment, a healthy place to work, should not harm the health of the environment and should contribute to and be a source of health in the community, but argues that hospitals have not paid a great deal of attention to many of these issues until recently. Suggests that in recent years, a new and broader understanding of health promotion has led to a re-examination of the ways in which hospitals can be both healthy and health-promoting. Begins by exploring the broader concepts of health promotion that lay the foundation for the creation of healthy and health-promoting hospitals and provides some examples of how these approaches are being applied.     

Transitioning health care marketing into the twenty-first century

With this issue, Marketing Health Services unveils an interview with an expert in health care marketing. As seen through the eyes of an industry leader, this regular feature identifies the cutting-edge developments, innovative approaches, and new ideas expected to significantly contribute to marketing in health care. In the first interview, Terrence J. Rynne, who, through his marketing consulting firm has served more than 600 hospitals nationwide, discusses the biggest trends in health care marketing and the top marketing approaches.     

Challenges in public health for the new century

The history of public health has followed different trends, depending on the prevailing theories of disease causality and the interventions that these suggest. From the concern with miasmas to the germ theory, to the stress on lifestyles and the current interest on the linkages between health, economic welfare, and social status, the proposed policies are contingent on how health and disease are conceptualized and explained. Ironically, now that there is increasing evidence on the socio-economic determinants of health, interventions continue to focus on specific target groups or disease categories, as well as on the medical sector.     

Planning for aging in the twenty-first century

The population of Rhode Island is aging more rapidly than that of most states and, therefore, can be used to illustrate the effects of aging on health systems, effects that may occur somewhat later or less extensively in most other states. Rhode Island population projections indicate a lull in aging between 1990 and 2010, followed by a 50 percent increase in the elderly cohort as the post-World War II "baby boom" population becomes 65 years of age and older between 2010 and 2030. Current (constant) Rhode Island rates of physician visits and hospital and nursing home use were applied to the projected population and translated into physician and hospital bed requirements and health expenditures, demonstrating that the resource costs of aging will be very large between 2010 and 2030 unless health service needs are reduced substantially and/or alternatives to hospital and nursing home services are developed. During the next 30 years, there will exist a unique and critical opportunity to restructure the medical care system. By developing alternatives to hospital inpatient care and nursing home care and by investing in primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention efforts, the baby boom population may remain healthier longer and, therefore, may require less medical care than elders today.     

Nutrition challenges for the twenty-first century

Although progress has been made towards international goals for the eradication of hunger and malnutrition, considerable work is still required to achieve them and to respond to emerging public health nutrition challenges. The present paper outlines sixteen major inter-linked nutrition challenges recently identified by the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition. While many of the challenges relate to the nutritional needs of children and mothers, an increased emphasis on nutrition-related chronic diseases that affect later life is also evident. Promoting healthy ageing and the maintenance of physical and mental function in older age are undoubtedly major challenges for the future, and the present paper also informs on the role of nutrition, specifically n-3 essential fatty acids, in the prevention of cognitive decline. The importance of determining the cost-effectiveness of nutrition interventions is advocated, in order that the nutrition community can respond appropriately to global nutrition challenges.