Health crisis in CEE:

Not only health care professionals and policy-makers but the whole population of our region is facing a big health challenge in the 21^st century. That is the morbidity and mortality crisis of the population, especially of the middle aged men.

• While health care indicators in the region were quite satisfying in the 1960s, the mortality rate of the middle aged male population today is higher than it was in the 1930s. The likelihood of men surviving their 65th birthday is only 59%. This rate in Austria is 80%. Mortality rate of the middle aged female population is also three time higher than the European average.
• While in the 1970s the life expectancy of Hungarian men and women was better than in the neighbouring Austria, today Austrian men live 7.7 years longer and Austrian women 5.2 years longer than their Hungarian counterparts.
• Although our women live much longer than men, - according to the data of the Hungarostudy 2002 (Hungarian Representative Health Survey, Kopp et all, 2002) - women have worse measures in every quality of life domain in all age groups, especially in the old age.
• Rate of depressive symptomatolgy is increasing with age, an average person above 60 years has at least mild depressive symptomatolgy (according to Hungarostudy 2002). More than one fifth of this population is likely to have clinically significant depression, twice as many women than men, and this rate goes up to 30-40% in those with significant somatic illnesses.
• We should not be surprised then on the anticipation of WHO, that depression, hand in hand with cardiovascular diseases will be the major cause of working disability by the 1920s.

? What can explain the opposite trends in health state and life expectancy of the population in the East-West comparison?
? Why our men in Central Eastern Europe die prematurely, and what can we do to prevent this?
? Why our women in Central Eastern Europe have to live with unsatisfying quality of life, next loose their husbands and sometimes even their middle aged sons, and live additional 10 or more years alone with worsening somatic and mental health, in many cases with little social support?

? How to change this pessimistic situation?

These health rends cannot be explained with the traditional health risk factors themselves, but rather with chronic stress and ineffective coping abilities of the population. While it is hard to influence the impact of the objective background factors, like genes, age and sex, the skills of coping with stress are improvable.
Behavioural Medicine can provide evidence based methods for better coping, as well as health promotion, diseases prevention and management.

For success there is a need for the cooperation of behavioural medicine and public health experts, health care professionals, policy-makers with the civil population and organisations, with the mass media, and every individual and group who feels responsibility for this mission.
We can address the major health challenges we face in CEE countries, if only we get together and share knowledge and expertise, and if only we work in partnership and collaboratively with other individuals and institutions.

Our motto then:
"Save our men!" & "Give quality of life, not only years to our women!"

The evolving Network:

The interdisciplinary approach of behavioural medicine - that means the integration of sociocultural, psychosocial, behavioural and biomedical knowledge relevant to health and illness - is fundamental in understanding the determinants of the morbidity and mortality crisis in our region and more importantly to implement community based behavioural medicine health promotion methods.
During the Budapest Satellite meeting of the 8^th International Congress of Behavioural Medicine (August 29-31, 2004, Budapest, Hungary) participants agreed to promote the establishment of a Central Eastern European Behavioural Medicine Network so as to strengthen teaching, research and system engagement in behavioural medicine in the countries of the region.

The idea of a regional cooperation was welcomed and approved by the International Society of Behaviour Medicine, as well, so the Network was officially established in February 2005.

› ICBM Budapest Satellite Meeting Report (Download: Bp sat report.pdf)