Health – The Most Important Dimension of Life Quality? A Rumanian Case Study

Abstract

In the last decade's literature it has become clear that in order to adequately understand people's quality of life it is necessary to use a set of indicators as different as possible. They have to include not only the global indicators, but also aspects that concern households, families and personal life, including the subjective dimension of current conditions, the degree of satisfaction felt as well as dissatisfaction and frustration. The idea of approaching health as a social phenomenon is on the ascendancy. One should not forget the fact that the social welfare of the population is often a precondition of somatic health. Neglecting or ignoring the social pathology aspects inherent to a society (unemployment, poverty, high crime rate, different family dysfunctions, alcoholism, etc.) or treating them in isolation, any health strategy shall only partially reach its major objective, the improvement of the population's health status. Although health reforms aim to increase the quality of health services, to raise the health status of the population, to reduce health disparities, Rumania had the lowest life expectancy among the ten East and Central European countries that applied for EU membership before 2004. The incidence of tuberculosis decreased until the mid-80s and then started to increase again. More than a decade after starting the reforms in the economic and social areas, and five years after beginning experimenting with the social health insurance system, Rumanians are most afraid of disease.