News & Events

News

OECD Guidelines on Human Biobanks and Genetic Research Databases (HBGRD)

12-Nov-2009

The recently adopted OECD Recommendation provides guidance on the establishment, management, governance, operation, access, use and discontinuation of HBGRDs. It has been developed to aid policymakers and practitioners who are establishing new HBGRDs, although many of the principles and best practices can also be usefully applied to HBGRDs already in existence.

OECD Health Policy Studies - Achieving Better Value for Money in Health Care

12-Nov-2009

Rising public health care spending remains a problem in virtually all OECD and EU member countries. As a consequence, there is growing interest in policies that will ease this pressure through improved health system performance. This report report examines selected policies that may help countries better achieve the goal of improved health system efficiency and thus better value for money.

Tracking the growth in Medical Tourism: OECD helps Ministers shape the debate

27-Oct-2009

International trade in health services has been attracting increasing attention from health analysts, public health policy makers, and trade and tourism promotion agencies but with relatively little data to inform them. This statement was made by David Morgan of the Health Division at a roundtable meeting of ministers of health and tourism at the Medical Tourism and Global Health Congress, Los Angeles, October 26th-28th, 2009.

Publication of the 2007 OECD List of High Production Volume Chemicals

26-Oct-2009

The OECD List of High Production Volume (HPV) Chemicals serves as the overall priority list from which chemicals are selected for SIDS data gathering and testing and initial hazard assessment. It is compiled by the OECD Secretariat on the basis of regular submissions by Member countries reporting those industrial chemicals for which a Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Registry Number had been assigned and which are produced or imported at levels greater than 1000 tonnes per year.

Dix nouvelles Lignes directrices et six Lignes directrices mises à jour ont été adoptées!

11-Sep-2009

Dix nouvelles Lignes directrices et six Lignes directrices mises à jour ont été adoptées par le Conseil de l’OCDE le 7 septembre 2009.

Health Update No. 7 now available

10-Jul-2009

Issue 7 of Health Update looks at the question of health spending in the current economic crisis. It also features other key health-related projects throughout the OECD (including information and communication technology, healthy ageing, obesity and long term care) and the recent release of OECD Health Data 2009.

Frequently Asked Questions about the OECD QSAR Application Toolbox

02-Jul-2009

A first set of Frequently Asked Questions about the OECD QSAR Application Toolbox is now available. The (Q)SAR Application Toolbox is a software application intended to be used by governments, industry and other stakeholders to fill gaps in (eco)toxicity data needed for assessing the hazards of chemicals. The questions address a number of topics such as regulatory acceptance, content and quality of databases, contribution from stakeholders as well as installation and troubleshooting.

OECD Health Data 2009 – comparing health statistics across OECD countries

01-Jul-2009

The number of doctors per capita increased 2% per year on average across OECD countries between 1990 and 2007, but in some countries the trend is reversing. These are some of the findings from OECD Health Data 2009, the most comprehensive source of comparable statistics on health and health systems across the 30 OECD countries.

Education reduces probability of obesity

19-Jun-2009

OECD Health Working Paper No. 46 presents the findings of health survey data from Australia, Canada, England and Korea. It shows that education appears to be associated with a lower likelihood of obesity, especially among women. This is determined by at least three factors: greater access to and handling of health-related information; clearer perception of the risks associated with lifestyle choices; and improved self-control and consistency of preferences over time. The higher a person’s education relative to his or her peers’, the lower the probability of that person being obese.

Managing Chemicals Through OECD – New brochure on EHS Programme

29-May-2009

A new 30-page brochure  on the activities of OECD’s Environment, Health and Safety Programme is now available. The brochure describes the work being undertaken in the 2009-2012 programme of work on chemicals and its related programmes and the place of the EHS programme in OECD. It provides an easily accessible overview of the programme for the general public as well as for use in briefing materials for governments and stakeholders.  Paper copies can be ordered by sending a message to ehscont@oecd.org.




Top of page

Health at a Glance - Edition 2009

Health at a Glance 2009 - OECD Indicators

Policy Brief - Health