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Læknablaðið - 15.02.1985, Blaðsíða 56

Læknablaðið - 15.02.1985, Blaðsíða 56
36 LÆKNABLAÐIÐ Many millions of people in Europe live in grossly substandard housing. While this is particularly true of the developing countries, a serious problem also exists in the more developed ones. Thus, several million people live in decaying city centres or recently built substandard flats. In many countries of the Region, there is also a lack of reasonably priced dwellings. People, especially young couples, may have to wait for years before they have an opportunity to occupy their own dwelling, while low-income groups such as the elderly may never be able to afford one. Owing to the housing shortage or excessive prices, more than one family may have to share the same flat or members of the same family may be obliged to live apart. Thus, it is clear that this sector represents a major problem for the European Region as a whole, and Chapter 4 sets a health related target in this respect. 1.3.5. Secure work and a useful role in society Having secure work and a useful role in society has always represented a fundamental human need. Unem- ployment and underemployment therefore take a human and social toll on individuals, their families and communities, and evidence is now accumulating that this can be damaging to health. The long-term economic prospect is uncertain. It would be extremely rash to plan on the assumption that there will be a return, even in the 1990s, to the rapid growh rates of the 1950s and 1960s. The older industries of the Region are facing powerful competition from third world countries, and new technology is making it possible for both industry and many services to produce more with less or the same manpower. Unemployment in the Region has reached persistently high levels unknown for two generations. Any realistic plan for health must therefore be based on the assumption that the average annual rate of economic growth in the Region up to the year 2000 will be modest. The bleaker overall economic prospect does not, however, necessarily mean that continued high levels of poverty and of unemployment must be passively accepted. The health and social care services are, and will remain, labour-intensive, partly because they rely on personal relationships and personal services. Expan- sion of the health sector can provide satisfying and useful jobs, paid or unpaid, and thus offers a way of reducing unemployment if there is the political will to do so. In response to economic difficulties, education and training for young people have been mainly provided in the economic sector, but among the jobs for which young people need to be prepared is the provision of social care. An important factor in this context is that in the past, educational systems have not done much to combat the sexual division of social roles. One consequence of that policy is that women tend to end up with skills suited only to poorly paid jobs. This is of special importance in the case of family breakdown, which often leads to the establishment of low-income families consisting of a divorced mother and her children. Employment policies, including responses to the economic crisis in the training of young people, should provide an opportunity for choosing satisfying social and economic activities, while maintaining living standards and fulfilling social and family roles. Serious attempts should be made to provide the disabled and the elderly with useful occupations that make the best of their talents. Research efforts should be devoted to finding new ways of redistributing work and work opportunities as economic and industrial patterns change. The political challenge is to find acceptable means of promoting this development. This is in line with the aims and purposes of the International Labour Organization to further among the nations’ programmes the achievement of full employment in occupations which provide people the satisfaction of giving the fullest measure of their skill and attainments, a basic income to all in need of such protection and conditions of work to ensure a just share of the fruits of progress to all. 1.4. POLITICAL WILL AND PUBLIC SUPPORT Given the magnitude of the task of attaining health for all, strong political will and the mobilization of public support are fundamental prerequisites for launching the necessary action. The ministry of health or other government authority responsible for promoting and sustaining national health policies should take a strong line in ensuring the clear commitment of the country as a whole to the objective of health for all. This is in conformity with resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and the World Health Assembly, calling upon countries to develop their national health for all strategies and take the necessary steps to ensure their implementation. The process of mobilizing support should preferably be set in motion by political decisions taken at the highest level and confirmed in all sectors throughout the country. This should result in all sectors with an impact on health acknowledging that safeguarding the people’s health is an overriding concern in their own particular field as well. The way people are mobilized depends on the cultural and social patterns and the political system in the country concerned. Efforts should be made to ensure the strong support of religious and civic leaders and other public figures, trade unions and influential nongovernmental organizations. Such popular support could be mobilized by setting up special national associations solely to promote the health for all goal and its attainment. Meahs must be found to make the health professions, other social groups and particular community organizations active collaborators in a wide national movement for health for all, and extensive and sustained mass campaigns should be undertaken to ensure wide and active support among the general public. In the European Region, a strong, collective political commitment of Member States must be maintained in order to provide the impetus for the collective action required. It was the adoption of the health for all goal by the World Health Assembly in 1977 that provided the first stimulus, later reinforced by the endorsement of the regional strategy for health for all by the Regional Committee in 1980; it will be further strengthened by the adoption by the Regional Committee in 1984 of specific regional health for all targets in support of the
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