THE INFLUENCE OF EDUCATION AND INTERNET ACCESS ON HEALTH STATUS IN EUROPEAN UNION

Abstract

Health is a precondition for economic prosperity and the EU policies aim to develop sustainable health systems trying to reduce inequalities. Over the last decade, European health systems have faced growing common challenges like increasing cost of healthcare, population ageing , shortages and uneven distribution of health professionals, inequities in access to healthcare.The negative effect of these challenges on population health status can be can be diminished by discovering some factors which could improve population health outcomes and health care quality. Experts state that education is critical to social and economic development and has a profound impact on population health. Education offers opportunities to learn more about health and health risks, about how to prevent or manage diseases. Individuals with lower health literacy had poorer health-related knowledge and comprehension and ability to interpret medication labels and health messages.The increase in online health information challenges users with limited literacy skills or limited experience using the Internet. For many of these users, the Internet is stressful and even inaccessible. The goal for this paper is to analyse the influence of two of these factors - level of education and internet access to health information - on population health status.