According to an OECD study, in 2023, Portugal was the European Union country with the highest vaccination coverage against the human papillomavirus (HPV) and the second for vaccination against measles and hepatitis B.
According to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released this week, HPV vaccination coverage with the recommended doses for girls aged up to 15 reached 91% in Portugal last year. This makes Portugal the EU country with the highest percentage of vaccination and well above the EU average of 64%.
“In 2023, on average, 64% of girls in the EU received all recommended doses of HPV vaccine by the age of 15, ranging from 91% in Portugal to 7% in Bulgaria”, the document says.
The study also reveals that that year, 88% of children in the EU received both doses of the measles vaccine, and only Hungary and Portugal reached the recommended 95% coverage for population protection against disease outbreaks.
In relation to hepatitis B, the OECD warns that most countries have not reached the recommended coverage of 95% with three doses of the vaccine. However, Portugal was among the group of countries that exceeded this goal.
At the European level, the “Health at a Glance” report states that, in 2021, almost a quarter of deaths (1.26 million) in the European Union (EU) were considered preventable, of which 860 thousand through effective primary prevention and other public health measures.
In 2021, the four leading causes of preventable mortality – COVID-19, lung cancer, ischaemic heart disease and alcohol-related deaths – accounted for more than half (56%) of all avoidable deaths in the EU. Other important causes of preventable mortality were strokes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and suicide.
Overall, in 2021, almost 5.3 million people died in EU countries, 100 thousand more deaths than in 2020 and more than 600 thousand than in 2019, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite a temporary setback during the pandemic, life expectancy at birth in the EU has increased by more than four years since 2000, reaching 81.5 years in 2023.
The report also points out that life expectancy when people reach 65 has never been higher, now exceeding 20 years.
The study also notes that in the 19 EU countries with available data, more than half of respondents expressed confidence in their government’s ability to protect the population in the event of a large-scale health emergency. At the same time, 31% believe they could not.
According to the OECD, public confidence in the crisis management capacity of government institutions was highest in Finland (82%), the Netherlands (68%) and Denmark (66%). Portugal is among the countries where this trust is lowest (33%).
“These large differences in trust levels can be attributed to several factors, including historical performance in crisis management, the strength of social welfare systems, satisfaction with key public services, assessments of a country’s resources, and cultural predisposition to trust institutions in general”, the OECD explains.
The OECD reiterates that doctors’ remuneration fell slightly in real terms between 2012 and 2022 in countries such as Portugal, Slovenia, and Sweden, as the inflation rate increased faster than nominal income gains.
LUSA
