O papel dos serviços locais de interesse geral na promoção da vida saudável da população do Alentejo - um contributo para a coesão territorial em territórios de baixo crescimento

Funder

Organizational Unit

Publications

Regional disparities in health services provision in the European Union: when territory matters

Publication . Franco, Pedro; Marques da Costa, Eduarda

Services of general interest (SGI) contribute to the European Union’s objectives, being fundamental to territorial cohesion and convergence, with a preeminent role in rural and peripheral territories. Hence, disparities in access to these services lead to critical regional disparities, impairing cohesion. It is in economic harsh times that SGI are preponderant, especially in more rural or peripheral regions and health services are one of the most impactful SGI, being an iconic representative of the Welfare State. Therefore, an assessment of regional health services must be developed in relation to Welfare State Regimes performance. This study is developed within this framework, with the objectives of understanding: how national and local expenditures in health are related to Welfare State Regimes; and how their expenses impact territorial cohesion through differentiated regional health service provision and population health status. The work was developed in two phases: one centred on the assessment of total and health expenditures made by national and local governments, discussed in the framework of distinct Welfare Regimes; another, that analyses regional health service provision and population health status, in their relationship with regional socio-economic characteristics and the framework of Welfare Regimes. Indicators regarding health expenditures countries' efforts, health status, and services at a regional scale were retrieved from Eurostat. Results confirm that the provision of services and health status differ among Welfare Regimes and territorial typologies. Urban regions showed better results than rural ones, with the Welfare Regime precluding this reality. We conclude that regional health disparities are a concerning factor that harms territorial cohesion.

2022Journal article

Open access

Air pollution and emergency hospital admissions: evidences from Lisbon Metropolitan Area, Portugal

Publication . Franco, Pedro; Gordo, Cristina; Marques Da Costa, Eduarda; Lopes, António

The relevance of air pollution in the public health agenda has recently been reinforced—it is known that exposure to it has negative effects in the health of individuals, especially in big cities and metropolitan areas. In this article we observed the evolution of air pollutants (CO, NO, NO2, O3, PM10) emissions and we confront them with health vulnerabilities related to respiratory and circulatory diseases (all circulatory diseases, cardiac diseases, cerebrovascular disease, ischemic heart disease, all respiratory diseases, chronic lower respiratory diseases, acute upper respiratory infections). The study is supported in two databases, one of air pollutants and the other of emergency hospital admissions, in the 2005–2015 period, applied to the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. The analysis was conducted through Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression, while also using semi-elasticity to quantify associations. Results showed positive associations between air pollutants and admissions, tendentially higher in respiratory diseases, with CO and O3 having the highest number of associations, and the senior age group being the most impacted. We concluded that O3 is a good predictor for the under-15 age group and PM10 for the over-64 age group; also, there seems to exist a distinction between the urban city core and its suburban areas in air pollution and its relation to emergency hospital admissions.

2020Journal article

Open access

Serviços sociais de interesse geral e coesão territorial em contexto de baixa densidade : o caso do Alto Alentejo

Publication . Franco, Pedro; Costa, Eduarda Pires Valente da Silva Marques da

A perda de população, envelhecimento dos territórios de baixa densidade e desadequação da oferta de serviços de interesse geral (SIG) reiteram a importância da coesão territorial no quadro europeu. Observando as regiões europeias e o Alto Alentejo, este estudo tem como objetivo principal verificar como a prestação de serviços sociais de interesse geral (SSIG) responde às necessidades da população residente em territórios rurais/periféricos e de fronteira, gerando quadros de vida mais saudáveis e potenciando a coesão territorial. O trabalho possui sete capítulos, complementado por introdução e conclusão, divididos em três partes. A primeira parte enquadra o tema e discute conceitos como: SIG e sua estrutura de oferta e a ligação aos Regimes de Estado Social (1); coesão, organização territorial e cooperação territorial (2). A segunda parte analisa as despesas públicas e os fatores influenciadores da oferta regional de SSIG. As despesas são aferidas em diferentes contextos (pré-crise, crise, pós-crise), incluindo-se na análise os Regimes de Estado Social, desenvolvendo as relações dos Estados com os SSIG (3). A aferição dos fatores para a oferta regional de SSIG considerou aspetos como condições socioeconómicas, sistema urbano ou demografia, classificando as regiões conforme a relação com os fatores (4). Os resultados mostram a importância das dimensões socioeconómica e urbana e, também, dos Regimes de Estado Social na capacidade de promover a prestação de serviços. A terceira parte aborda o caso de estudo – Alto Alentejo. Inicialmente, caracteriza-se o território em vários domínios e examina-se a oferta de SSIG e equipamentos desportivos (5). Seguidamente, analisa-se a relação da população com os SSIG e equipamentos desportivos (6). Finalmente, examina-se como os SSIG e os problemas regionais são observados pelos agentes, apontando a cooperação territorial transfronteiriça como solução para a prestação destes em regiões de baixa densidade/fronteira, como Arronches e Elvas (7). O trabalho culmina com as conclusões.

2024-04Doctoral thesis

Open access