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This review assesses Chile's public health system, highlights areas of strength and weakness, and makes a number of recommendations for improvement. The review examines Chile's public health system architecture, and how well policies are responding to significant population health challenges including high rates of overweight and obesity, and relatively high smoking rates. In particular, the review assesses Chile's policies designed to tackle obesity and improve healthy diets. The review also examines Chile's cancer screening and prevention system and, finally, looks at how genetic and genomic medicine are being used to strengthen public health and preventive care in Chile.

This report reviews the important role of medicines in health systems, describes recent trends in pharmaceutical expenditure and financing, and summarises the approaches used by OECD countries to determine coverage and pricing. It then highlights current issues for policy makers, such as the increasing prices of new medicines; concerns about the value of spending in some therapeutic areas; challenges in anticipating the arrival of very effective medicines for highly prevalent diseases; sharp price increases in off-patent products; and the apparent misalignment of current incentives for the development of treatments for certain conditions. The report also describes the role of the biopharmaceutical industry in OECD economies, examines the process of pharmaceutical R&D and its financing, and looks at the risks, costs and return from R&D investment for the industry. Examining trends in the industry over time, it shows that productivity of R&D expenditure has declined; that the duration of market exclusivity has remained relatively stable; that new medicines are increasingly being developed for small patient populations; and that the industry as a whole has remained highly profitable for investors. Lastly, the report presents a range of policy options for consideration by policy makers, to support the development of effective and co-ordinated responses to the identified challenges.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a large and growing problem with the potential for enormous health and economic consequences, globally. As such, AMR has become a central issue at the top of the public health agenda of OECD countries and beyond. In this report, OECD used advanced techniques, including machine learning, ensemble modelling and a microsimulation model, to provide support for policy action in the human health sector. AMR rates are high and are projected to grow further, particularly for second- and third-line antibiotics, and if no effective action is taken this is forecasted to produce a significant health and economic burden in OECD and EU28 countries. This burden can be addressed by implementing effective public health initiatives. This report reviews policies currently in place in high-income countries and identifies a set of ‘best buys’ to tackle AMR that, if scaled up at the national level, would provide an affordable and cost-effective instrument in the fight against AMR.

Across the OECD, nearly 19 million people are living with dementia. Millions of family members and friends provide care and support to loved ones with dementia throughout their lives. Globally, dementia costs over USD 1 trillion per year and represents one of the leading causes of disability for elderly adults. These numbers will continue to rise as populations age. Until a cure or disease-modifying treatment for dementia is developed, the progress of the disease cannot be stopped. This report presents the most up-to-date and comprehensive cross-country assessment of the state of dementia care in OECD countries. In recent years, OECD countries have enhanced their efforts to provide high-quality dementia care during diagnosis, early and advanced dementia, but improving measurement is necessary for enhancements in care quality and outcomes for people with dementia. The report advises a set of policies that can help countries to improve diagnosis, strengthen access to care services, improve the quality of care, and support the families and carers of people living with dementia. Measuring and comparing the services that are delivered to people with dementia and the outcomes they achieve is a crucial part of improving dementia care. Most health systems have very poor data on dementia care and  countries should work to strengthen the measurement of quality and outcomes of dementia care.

The report analyses the performance of Lithuania’s health system which has been long characterised by its institutional stability and the steady pursuit of a policy agenda aimed at adapting it to the evolving burden of disease. Today, even if total spending on health is low and out-of-pocket payments represent nearly a third of it, the system ensures fairly equitable access to care. The main challenge to the system is that health outcomes still place Lithuania among the lowest ranked in the OECD. Efforts need to be geared more systematically towards strengthening public health and improving the quality of the services delivered at primary and hospital care levels.