No sustainability without health equity

Hospitals’ Financial Health in Rural and Urban Areas in Poland: Does It Ensure Sustainability?

Literature review suggests that rural hospitals are in the worst financial conditions due to several factors: They are smaller, located in remote areas, and they provide less specialized services due to their problems with employing well-qualified staff. We decided to check whether it is true in the case of Polish hospitals. Based on the literature review, we have assumed that rural hospitals have less favorable financial conditions. In order to verify this assumption, we use seven indicators of financial health as well as a synthetic measure of financial condition. We have found that, in fact, there is no difference in financial condition between rural and urban hospitals, or even that the financial health of rural hospitals is better if we employ the synthetic measure. Additionally, we have found that the form of activity can be a crucial driver of better financial performance. The concept of rural sustainability is supported by good financial conditions of rural hospitals, which helps to provide better access to medical services for inhabitants of rural areas.

Why the way we are living may be bad for our mental well-being, and what we might choose to do about it: responding to a 21st Century public health challenge

With economic recession biting ever harder, rates of mental ill-health rising and levels of mental well-being falling, this article suggests that it is time to critique the progress we have made, re-evaluate what it is that makes life worth living, and consider what public health may have to offer in the 21st Century. This article focuses on three distinct areas: the public health challenge; the broader societal challenges; and suggestions for effective responses. It argues that mental well-being, both individually and collectively, is a public health resource that, until now, has been underplayed and undervalued in traditional approaches to public health. Drawing on the evidence, it promotes the need for a more integrated approach to public health for the future, pulling together action and evidence on both physical and mental health and well-being, with the ultimate aim of creating a more mentally healthy society.