Applying the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) to a global range of case studies, this pioneering Modern Guide addresses how policymakers decide what issues to attend to and which choices to make or implement. In doing so it outlines that, far from being the exception, ambiguity and timing are integral parts of every comparative explanation of the policy process.

How’s Life? charts whether life is getting better for people in 37 OECD countries and 4 partner countries. This fifth edition presents the latest evidence from an updated set of over 80 indicators, covering current well-being outcomes, inequalities, and resources for future well-being.

This publication the first in a new series of profiles of health and well-being presents an analysis of the state of and trends in health in Greece. Although Greece had been among the countries with the best health status in the WHO European Region health improvements were falling behind those in other countries that belonged to the European Union before May 2004 (EU15) well before the current economic crisis and progress towards the targets of the Health 2020 policy framework is mixed. Historically the Greek population has been one of the healthiest in Europe. As a result of the continuing economic crisis the widening gap in health status and the absence of national health policies aligned with Health 2020 inequalities are likely to increase and progress towards and achievement of Health 2020 goals might be jeopardized unless decisive proactive measures are taken soon. Profiles of health and well-being give an overview of a country s health status providing data on mortality morbidity and exposure to key risk factors and showing trends over time. The WHO Regional Office for Europe develops them in collaboration with European Member States. When possible each report also compares a country to reference groups: the WHO European Region as a whole and the EU15. To make the comparisons as valid as possible data are as a rule taken from one source to ensure reasonably consistent harmonization. The data in the report are drawn from the Regional Office s European Health for All (HFA) database. These are collected from Member States annually and include metadata that specify the original source of data for specific indicators. The findings in the profiles are summarized in brief highlights publications.

Hit by the European financial and economic crisis in 2008, several Member States of the European Monetary Union (EMU) were unable to refinance their public debt through the financial markets. As a result, they asked for financial assistance from international institutions and European financial assistance mechanisms. That assistance often came at a high price for citizens, cuts in pensions and social assistance, and controversial reforms in public healthcare. These far-reaching reforms were, in many cases, experienced as violations of people's human rights. National constitutional courts, the Court of Justice of the EU, and the European Court of Human Rights issued a series of rulings on the conformity of the reforms in social protection initiated during the Eurozone crisis. This book offers a holistic analysis of the specific reforms in social protection introduced during the European financial crisis and their implications for constitutional law. Focusing on the social reforms of nine European countries that were greatly affected by the financial crisis, the volume seeks to address the legacy of the financial crisis on the application of constitutional law and the welfare state. The book will act as a helpful tool to legal academics interested in the challenges of constitutional and social law initiated by financial assistance conditionality, to advocates in quest of sound legal bases for the protection of individuals affected by social security reforms, and to national and international judges who are confronted with cases that question the legality and legitimacy of the crisis-related reforms.

The Global Private Health & Fitness Business shows the globalization of the health and fitness industry, and its different forms of management according to different countries, the objective being to show the various business models in the fitness industry in seventeen countries around the world and explore their methods of marketing.

International migration, particularly to Europe, has increased in the last few decades, making research on aspects of this phenomenon, including numbers, challenges, and successes, particularly vital. This Special Issue highlights this necessary and relevant area of research. It presents 37 articles including studies on diverse topics relating to the health of refugees and migrants. Most articles (28) present studies focusing on European host countries. The focus on Europe is justified if we take into consideration the increased number of refugees and migrants who have come to Europe in recent years. However, there are also articles which present studies from countries in other continents. The topics discussed in the Issue include healthcare utilization, infectious diseases, mother and child health, mental health, and chronic diseases. Finding from the included articles indicate that further development of guidelines and policies at both local and international levels is needed. Priorities must be set by encouraging and funding in-depth research that aims to evaluate the impact of existing policies and interventions. Such research will help us formulate recommendations for the development of strategies and approaches that improve and strengthen the integration of migrants and refugees into the host countries.

Optimization and evaluation are essential to the operations of several sectors such as the healthcare sector and the agriculture industry. Improvement of optimizations and evaluation are imperative for industry success and ensures that better services are provided to global consumers across sectors. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Operations Management and Service Evaluation is a critical scholarly publication that focuses on operations management across several sectors and assessment strategies for the improvement of these industries. Featuring a range of topics such as fuzzy logic, ecosystem services, and metaheuristics, this book is ideal for managers, service evaluators, marketers, academicians, business professionals, researchers, practitioners, and students.

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 - a situation compounded by cuts in public spending on health and other social services. But these negative effects can be avoided by timely public policy action. While important public policy levers lie outside the health sector, in the hands of those responsible for fiscal policy and social protection, the health system response is critical. This book looks at how health systems in Europe reacted to pressure created by the financial and economic crisis that began in 2008. Drawing on the experience of over 45 countries, the authors:' analyse health system responses to the crisis in three policy areas: public funding for the health system; health coverage; and health service planning, purchasing and delivery 'assess the impact of these responses on health systems and population health' identify policies most likely to sustain the performance of health systems facing financial pressure' explore the political economy of implementing reforms in a crisisThe book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the choices available to policy-makers - and the implications of failing to protect health and health-system performance - in the face of economic and other forms of shock.--

Health at a Glance: Europe 2018 presents comparative analyses of the health status of EU citizens and the performance of the health systems of the 28 EU Member States, 5 candidate countries and 3 EFTA countries.

This book features the second volume of the proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the International Association of Cultural and Digital Tourism (IACuDiT). Held at the Syros Island in Greece in September 2022, the conference's lead theme was ‘Tourism, Travel, and Hospitality in a Smart and Sustainable World’. With a full appreciation of the contributions made by numerous writers toward the progress in tourism research, this book presents a critical academic discourse on sustainable practices in a smart tourism context, stimulating future debates and advancing knowledge and understanding in this critical area of knowledge. It also puts emphasis on the knowledge economy and smart destinations notion. It enacts new modes of tourism management and development and presents chapters on cultural heritage tourism, emerging technologies and tourism consumer behaviour, such as tourism education, location-based services, Internet of Things, smart cities, mobile services, gamification, digital collections and the virtual visitor, social media, social networking, and augmented reality.