Current Challenges
Over the last decade, European health systems have faced growing common challenges:
- increasing cost of healthcare;
- population ageing associated with a rise of chronic diseases and multi-morbidity leading to growing demand for healthcare;
- shortages and uneven distribution of health professionals;
- health inequalities and inequities in access to healthcare.
The economic crisis has also limited the financial resources available and thus aggravated Member States’ difficulties in ensuring their health systems’ ability to provide quality and equitable care.
There is thus an urgent need to bring innovation and research evidence to identify more effective and sustainable ways to organise, manage, finance, and deliver high-quality care to European citizens.