Greeks feel: Economic Crisis has Taken a Toll on their Health
The health of Greeks has deteriorated during the economic crisis and this has had serious effects on the operation of the country’s health system, a new research which was conducted over eight months by pollster Dianeosis found.Asked “What effect did the economic crisis have on the state of your health?”, 591 respondents said the crisis has affected their health a lot / enough / a little, because of the following reasons:
- 68% said their general quality of life worsened
- 56% said their mental health deteriorated
- 29% was forced to be deprived of basic things, such as food etc.
- 26%said their access to healthcare was limited
- 23% said their access to medical care was limited (because of cost or shortages)
Some of the main conclusions include: - A deterioration of health, mainly mental, particularly for lower-income earners
- Reception of less medical care, particularly for the unemployed and pensioners
- A problematic access to medicines
- Very high cost of private healthcareFurthermore, the percentage of those who said they are facing a chronic disease increased by 24% in the period between 2009-2012, while the consumption of anti-depressants jumped 35% from 2006 to 2011.The research by Dianeosis was conducted in cooperation with the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine and coordinated by Social and Preventive Medicine Professor Yiannis Toundas from the University of Athens.
- It is comprised of two complementary parts: The first studied the use of public and private health services from citizens, as well as the effects of the economic crisis on their health. The quantitative research was conducted in April 2015.
The second part includes an analytical review of the data and the bibliography which have been published by Greek and international bodies and researchers and concern all aspects of health, healthcare provision and use of health services during the crisis.
The full results will be published on Wednesday on dianeosis.org.
