Bavaria demands review of federal health report:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Bavarian health minister Eberhard Sinner has demanded that the health report (Gesundheitsberichterstattung), compiled by the federal department for statistics, be made more comprehensive. He wants the report to contain more information about the frequency of illness and risk factors. "Until now it has concentrated on illness costs," he said. Mr Sinner added that a solid database was a prerequisite for the efficient management of the federal health minister's disease management programmes. There was also a need to concentrate on prevention and to tackle health problems "at their roots", he said. The Bavarian health initiative "Bayern Aktiv", to be introduced in 2002, will promote more individual responsibility for health. The fact that nutrition-related illnesses were costing the country some DM140 billion ($64 billion) underlined the need for such measures, he said.