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Financial crisis

Financial crisis

How did health systems in Europe respond to the economic and financial crisis of 2009 and how did these responses impact on health system performance and population health? What lessons did we learn?

Economic shocks pose a threat to health and health system performance by increasing people’s need for health care and making access to care more difficult. This is compounded by cuts in public spending on health and other social services.  The financial and economic crisis that began in 2008 had a visible, but varied, impact on health systems across Europe, prompting a wide range of responses from governments facing increased financial and other pressures.  

The European Observatory has collaborated with its network of more than 100 health system experts and academic researchers across Europe to produce a series of books, policy briefs and reports. The body of evidence built up from over 45 countries in the WHO European Region, addresses three key questions: 

  • how have health systems in Europe responded to the financial crisis?  
  • how have these responses impacted health system performance and population health?  
  • what are the implications of this experience for health systems facing economic and other forms of shock in the future?  

This evidence focuses on policy responses in three policy areas: 

  • public funding for health the system;
  • health coverage and health service planning;
  • purchasing and delivery. 

The evidence gathered gives policy-makers, researchers and others valuable, systematic information about national contexts. This ranges from countries operating under the fiscal and structural conditions of international bailout agreements, to those that, while less severely affected by the crisis, still had to operate in a climate of diminished public sector spending. By monitoring the effects of the crisis on health systems and health, the analyses aim to identify those policies most likely to sustain the performance of health systems facing fiscal pressure, and also to gain insight into the political economy of implementing reforms in a crisis. 

During the key years of the economic crisis, this work supported the WHO Regional Office for Europe’s engagement with Member States affected by the crisis. This underlined the Office’s commitment to promote policy decisions designed to protect health and reduce inequalities in health.  

A decade later, the key lessons will no doubt resonate and be a useful resource for countries facing future health system challenges as a result of the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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