Michael Berger from the Department of Health Economics has been awarded the prestigious Erwin-Schrödinger scholarship by the FWF for his research project “Mortgages, Household Economic Resilience and Health”. The Erwin Schrödinger program allows highly qualified postdocs to pursue career-enhancing stays at internationally renowned research institutions. Beginning on April 1, 2025, Michael Berger will join the Max Planck – University of Helsinki Center for Social Inequalities in Population Health (MaxHel) as a visiting researcher for one year. In collaboration with Prof. Pekka Martikainen, a leading researcher in health inequalities and director of the MaxHel, he will use comprehensive data on household debt, employment, homeownership, and health from the Finnish population to deepen the understanding of the connection between wealth and health.
The new Advisory Committee on Public Health Emergencies (ACPHE) was set up in order to support and advise the European Commission and Member States before, during and after a public health emergency. It is an important element of the European Health Union for a stronger response to cross-border health threats.
Judit Simon (Department of Health Economics, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna) is one of the 44 independent expert members of ACPHE selected from a wide range of disciplines and sectors. In the event of a serious crisis, the Committee will advise whether or not a given situation should be recognized by the Commission as a public health emergency. In addition, the Committee will recommend measures to mitigate the effects of such a public health emergency.
ACPHE held its first face-to-face meeting in Luxembourg on 14-15 January. The meeting was opened by Commissioner Várhelyi and joined by representatives from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization, as well as advisory committee observers.
As part of an ongoing programme of work at the Department of Health Economics on the health economic aspects of older age in association with other demographic, socioeconomic, lifestyle and environmental factors, a multi-disciplinary team at the Center for Public Health researched the development of the quality of life of older people in Austria over a period of more than ten years in a large, representative sample of adults aged 65 and over. Results of the study have now been published in the Journal of Aging and Social Policy.
Publication: Felsinger R, Mayer S, Haidinger G, Simon J. Aging well? Exploring self-reported quality of life in the older Austrian population based on repeated cross-sectional data. J Aging Soc Policy. 2024 Nov 6; DOI: 10.1080/08959420.2024.2423102
Media: https://wien.orf.at/stories/3285213/
Michael Berger and Judit Simon from the Department of Health Economics (DHE) have published a new original research article in the top journal Health Policy. This joint research, in collaboration with the Austrian National Public Health Institute (Gesundheit Österreich GmbH, GÖG), analyses differences in hospital admissions for depression across municipalities in Austria using spatial regression models. The findings reveal that two key factors influence local admission rates: urbanicity and the proximity to hospital services. This suggests a mismatch between patient needs and mental healthcare service availability with the potential for oversupply in (sub)urban and undersupply for rural populations. To learn more about the policy insights from this research, you can find the full open-access article here:
Berger M, Zuba M, Simon J. Urban-rural disparities in hospital admissions for depression in Austria: A spatial panel data analysis. Health Policy. 2024 (105209) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2024.105209
The Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) released a new Core Curriculum for public health education and training. The ASPHER Core Curriculum Programme (CCP) has been “striving to address the 'New Normal' which has impacted the public health landscape through the global pandemic of COVID-19 and other current crises”.
The Core Curriculum was launched at the 17th European Public Health Conference on the 15 November 2024. Judit Simon from the Centre for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna has been member of the Expert Consultative Group, co-chaired the launch workshop, and presented ‘Chapter 13 Economics in Public Health’ which she co-authored.
To learn more about the CCP and access the new Core Curriculum,
please go to https://ccp.aspher.org/.