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Background: For better supporting the science-governance interface, the potential of health assessments appears underrated. Aims: To identify what various types of health assessment have in common; how they differ; which assessment(s) to apply for which purpose; and what needs and options there are for future joint development. Methods: This review is based on five types of health assessment: monitoring/surveillance/reporting, assessment of health impact, of health technology, of health systems performance, health-related economic assessment. The approach is exploratory and includes: applying an agreed set of comparative criteria; circulating and supplementing synoptic tables; and interpreting the results. Results: Two of the assessments deal with the question 'Where do we stand?', two others with variants of 'What if' questions. Economic Assessment can take place in combination with any of the others. The assessments involve both overall 'procedures' and a variety of 'methods' which inescapably reflect some subjective assumptions and decisions, e.g. on issue framing. Resources and assistance exist for all these assessments. The paper indicates which type of assessment is appropriate for what purpose. Conclusions: Although scientific soundness of health assessments is not trivial to secure, existing types of health assessment can be interpreted as a useful 'toolkit' for supporting governance. If current traces of 'silo' thinking can be overcome, the attainability of a more unified culture of health assessments increases and such assessments might more widely be recognized as a prime, 'tried and tested' way to voice Public Health knowledge and to support rational governance and policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pediatric influenza causes significant morbidity annually, resulting in an increased economic burden. Therefore, we aimed to summarize existing literature regarding the costs of pediatric influenza in Europe, paying particular attention to the direct and indirect costs considered in the economic evaluations. Knowing health and social costs of childhood influenza is essential to support value-based health decisions to implement effective immunization strategies., Methods: We searched three databases for articles published to September 3, 2021. Eligible studies were those reporting the economic burden of influenza in the pediatric and youth population in European countries written in English language., Results: Overall, 2225 records were screened, and 9 articles were included. Costs estimates are different across countries and in the age groups considered. Direct costs per episode, whose major expense driver are hospitalizations and pediatric examinations, range from about €74 in Italy to €252 in Germany. Important variations are observed based on age, with the youngest group absorbing in some cases double the resources of the older ones such as (in Italy, in France and in Germany). Regarding indirect costs, workdays lost by parents resulted in higher costs for children <2 years and 2-5 years than those >5 years of age and their economic impact was variable reaching €251 per week in Germany., Conclusion: Evidence obtained in our review strengthened the awareness about the economic impact, in terms of direct and indirect costs, of pediatric influenza requiring, as a priority action in Europe, the implementation of influenza vaccination policies in this target population., (© 2022 The Authors. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Influenza vaccination is an important public health intervention for controlling disease burden, but coverage rates are still low also in risk groups. In order to identify non-vaccinating subgroups, deprivation and socio-economic indices, i.e. measures used to synthetically describe people's socio-economic status while taking into account several dimensions, may be used. We aimed to synthetize evidence from studies investigating association between deprivation/socio-economic indices and influenza vaccination coverage in population at risk-persons ≥65 years of age, individuals with comorbidities, pregnant women and health-care workers., Methods: We searched PubMed, ISI WoS, CINAHL and Scopus to identify observational studies published up to October 10th 2017 in English or Italian. Studies reporting quantitative estimates of the association between deprivation/socio-economic indices and influenza vaccination coverage in populations at risk were included., Results: A total of 1474 articles were identified and 12 were eventually included in the final review. Studies were mostly cross-sectional, performed in European countries, from 2004 to 2017. Seven studies focussed on deprivation and five on socio-economic indices. Studies on deprivation indices and vaccination coverage showed that people from the most deprived areas had lower coverage. Regarding socio-economic condition, results were contrasting, even though it may also be concluded that people from lower groups have lower vaccination coverage., Conclusions: Our work supports the possibility to identify people likely to have lower influenza vaccination coverage based on deprivation/socio-economic indices. Efforts should be performed in order to further strengthen robustness, transferability and suitability of these indices in addressing public health problems., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association.)

Background: In Europe, there is not routinely collected data on children's food insecurity. Indirect data show that food insecurity is on the rise in Europe, which may have a great impact on children's health., Methods: Considering that, we systematically reviewed any evidence coming from European countries in the last 10 years that reported the prevalence and correlates of food insecurity among children, intending to serve as a starting point for policymakers and guidelines., Results: We report worrying prevalence rates of food insecurity among children from 9 studies. There is a lack of evidence regarding this issue in many EU countries, especially Eastern Europe. Hence, the need for increased attention towards food insecurity among children in European countries., Conclusions: Achieving food security means designing targeted policies and interventions, both at a national and EU level. Policymakers and governments should make the appropriate efforts to deliver food security as a public good.

Background: The current economic context calls for rationalizing health resources that can be pursued through disinvestment from low value health technologies to invest in the best performing ones, ensuring high healthcare quality. Oncology is a field where, because of high costs of health technologies and rapid innovation, disinvestment is crucial., Methods: On this basis, the research team investigated through a survey, based on a questionnaire, opinions and views of representatives of European countries about disinvestment, in terms of fields of application, potential advocates and barriers, specifically focusing on cancer care., Results: A total of 17 questionnaires were filled in (response rate: 32.1%). The survey showed disinvestment is applied in several countries as a tool for containing health care expenditures and identifying obsolete technologies/ineffective interventions. Clinicians' resistance to change and industries' opposition are recognized as the most important barriers to the implementation of disinvestment policies. Potential targets of disinvestment in cancer are seen in diagnostic and therapeutic areas., Conclusion: Despite the agreement on fields of waste and of disinvestment policies, operational methods to put disinvestment in place are lacking. Since they should rely on an inclusive assessment of the technology, Health Technology Assessment may represent a good approach.

Influenza epidemics are responsible for high mortality and morbidity rates in particular among elderly and high risk groups. This review is aimed at assessing the economic value of vaccination in these groups. A search of full economic evaluations of influenza vaccination in comparison with no interventions was performed on PubMed from January 1990 to May 2011. Only economic evaluations dealing with elderly and high risk groups were considered. The quality of selected articles was assessed through Drummond's checklist. Sixteen cost-effectiveness analyses and four cost-benefit analyses were included: overall, the quality of studies was fairly good. The vaccination was demonstrated to be cost-effective or cost-saving in almost all studies, independently by the perspective and the type of analysis. Influenza vaccination is a worthwhile intervention from the pharmacoeconomic view-point, anyway a standardization of methods should be desirable in order to guarantee the comparability and transferability of results.

Purpose: To identify factors associated with candidate outcome in the European Resuscitation Council (ERC) advanced life support (ALS) provider courses., Methods: Medical doctors participating as candidates to consecutive ALS courses organised by an ERC training centre in Italy were enrolled in this prospective cohort study. The association between the ALS course outcome and candidate demographics, professional background and pre-course knowledge measured by using the pre-course multiple choice quiz (MCQ) was investigated by using logistic regression., Results: A total of 283 candidates, median age 31 years, were evaluated. Among them, 269 (95.1%) passed the final evaluation and 14 (4.9%) failed. Candidates who passed were younger (median age 31 vs. 37.5 years; p = 0.006) and attained a higher pre-course MCQ score (median 84 vs. 72.5%; p < 0.0001). On multivariate analysis, a higher pre-course MCQ score (OR 1.18 [95%CI 1.09-1.28]) and a basic life support (BLS) certification (OR 5.00 [95%CI 1.12-22.42]) were independent predictors of candidate success, while older age was associated with a significantly higher risk of failing (OR 0.90 [95%CI 0.83-0.97]). Female candidates had higher pass rates (97.2 vs. 91.2%; p = 0.048); however, after correction for confounders gender was not significantly associated with candidate outcome. Neither candidate specialty nor site of work was a predictor of candidate success., Conclusions: On ALS courses, younger age and a higher level of specific pre-course knowledge, as measured by both the pre-course MCQ and the presence of BLS certification, are the most important predictors of success. Candidate gender and professional background did not show a significant correlation with course outcome.