Prävention chronischer Herz-Kreislauf-Krankheiten : BRD, DDR und Großbritannien im Vergleich, 1945-1990 (Konzepte der Gesundheitsförderung)

BackgroundFor some years now, the German government has been discussing the introduction of a prevention bill (“Praventionsgesetz”) in order to structurally and financially strengthen the preventive efforts that have been outlined by many public health experts for decades. The main aim of this venture is to make the German health system and even physicians more responsive to the needs of socially disadvantaged citizens, less vulnerable to economic constraints and generally more efficient in the long term. Such a bill touches core interests of many actors in various social, political, medical and economic sectors and so far it has proved impossible to reach a compromise acceptable to all interest groups involved.AimThe difficulties surrounding this contentious bill arguably have roots in the structures and concepts of the German health system, which this paper sets out to analyse in a historical comparison of the health systems in West Germany, East Germany and the UK. Emphasis is put on the prevention of cardiovascular disease because according to the WHO it represents the ‘number one cause of death’ on a global and on the national level.ResultThe historical analysis shows that political action is needed: prevention should be understood in broad terms, focus on the reduction of social inequality and be grounded in law.