Foreword
The Health Care Systems in Transition (HiT) profiles are country-based
reports that provide an analytical description of each health care system
and of reform initiatives in progress or under development. The HiTs
are a key element that underpins the work of the European Observatory on
Health Care Systems.
The Observatory is a unique undertaking that brings together WHO Regional
Office for Europe, the Governments of Norway and Spain, the European
Investment Bank, the World Bank, the London School of Economics and
Political Science, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in
association with the Open Society Institute. This partnership supports and
promotes evidence-based health policy-making through comprehensive and
rigorous analysis of the dynamics of health care systems in Europe.
The aim of the HiT initiative is to provide relevant comparative information
to support policy-makers and analysts in the development of health care systems
and reforms in the countries of Europe and beyond. The HiT profiles are building
blocks that can be used to:
• learn in detail about different approaches to the financing, organization and
delivery of health care services;
• describe accurately the process and content of health care reform
programmes and their implementation;
• highlight common challenges and areas that require more in-depth analysis;
• provide a tool for the dissemination of information on health systems and
the exchange of experiences of reform strategies between policy-makers
and analysts in the different countries of the European Region.