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Background: Following the 2008 economic crisis many countries implemented austerity policies, including reducing public spending on health services. This paper evaluates the trends and equity in the use of health services during and after that period in Spain – a country with austerity policies – and in Germany – a country without restriction on healthcare spending. Methods: Data from several National Surveys in Spain and several waves of the Socio-Economic Panel in Germany, carried out between 2009 and 2017, were used. The dependent variables were number of doctor's consultations and whether or not a hospital admission occurred. The measure of socioeconomic position was education. In each year, the estimates were made for people with and without pre-existing health problems. First, the average number of doctor's consultations and the percentage of respondents who had had been hospitalized were calculated. Second, the relationship between education and use of those health services was estimated by calculating the difference in consultations using covariance analysis – in the case of number of consultations – and by calculating the percentage ratio using binomial regression – in the case of hospitalization. Results: The annual mean number of consultations went down in both countries. In Spain the average was 14.2 in 2009 and 10.4 in 2017 for patients with chronic conditions; 16.6 and 13.5 for those with a mental illness; and 6.4 and 5.9 for those without a defined illness. In Germany, the averages were 13.8 (2009) and 12.9 (2017) for the chronic group; 21.1 and 17.0 for mental illness; and 8.7 and 7.5 with no defined illness. The hospitalization frequency also decreased in both countries. The majority of the analyses presented no significant differences in relation to education. Conclusion: In both Spain and Germany, service use decreased between 2009 and 2017. In the first few years, this reduction coincided with a period of austerity in Spain. In general, we did not find socioeconomic differences in health service use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is overwhelming consensus among policy makers, academics, and professionals about the need to support families in their childrearing tasks. Consequently, European countries have been encouraged to develop family support interventions aimed at guaranteeing children's rights, targeting particularly those children in situations of psychosocial risk. While a certain amount of evidence exists regarding how family support is generally delivered in certain European countries, with a particular focus on parenting initiatives, this paper aims to take existing evidence one step further by providing an updated review focusing on two core components of the Council of Europe's Recommendation on Positive Parenting: families at psychosocial risk as the target population, and family education and support initiatives as the delivery format. The scope of the study was therefore broad, in both geographical and conceptual terms. An online survey was conducted with experts from 19 European countries to gather information regarding how they perceive family education and support initiatives for families at psychosocial risk. Both quantitative and qualitative data were analysed by computing frequencies/percentages and by following a thematic synthesis method, respectively. The results revealed both similarities and disparities as regards provider profiles, intervention characteristics, and quality standards. Practical implications are discussed, such as the need to diversify initiatives for at‐risk families in accordance with the tenets of progressive universalism, the ongoing need for an evidence‐based, pluralistic approach to programmes, and the skills and qualifications required in the family support workforce. This study constitutes a first step towards building a common family support framework at a European level, which would encompass family support and parenting policies aimed at families at psychosocial risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the late-nineteenth century food production and trade were greatly transformed. Changes in the food chain gave rise to new problems connected with food safety and food quality, which caused new controls to be introduced throughout Europe. In this paper I will contribute to ongoing debates by focusing on the regulation of saccharin in an agrarian city in the south of Europe, Valencia. The laboratory-made sweetener was introduced into the food market at the turn of the century, becoming highly controversial shortly afterwards. Several local groups of players got involved in this dispute. The sugar industry was not only an important stakeholder in the passing of some specific laws that were to constrain the use of saccharin, but also the main driver of regulation, primarily in periods when saccharin could become a serious competitor and reduce the sector’s profit. Furthermore, the combined work of the sugar industry and the municipal laboratories was essential for the implementation of regulations. It was in such municipal laboratories that scientists played a main role in regulation. My paper will address the commercial disputes linked to the use of saccharin and the limited role of science and scientists in its control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses technical performance in the water industry in the Southern European region of Andalusia, while accounting for sustainability in the management of water. This allows the opportunity cost of producing sustainability to be evaluated. Given the low cost of raw water in Spain in relation to the estimated opportunity cost of saving this natural resource, wasting water becomes a profitable strategy for utility managers from a private perspective. However, this managerial strategy has a huge social cost in an area of Europe where the sustainable management of water is a pressing need. The conclusion is that environmental policy aimed at discouraging this wasteful behaviour is urgently needed. For this reason, a suitable mix of environmental taxes on water abstraction and institutional reforms is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]