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About Us > The WWW Virtual Library: Public Health > Geographical Locations > Europe

Geographical Locations - Germany

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The WWW Virtual Library: Public Health

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Country Information


  • (Statistical) Number of Inhabitants per Doctor: 1,064
  • CIA World Factbook : Germany
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Organisations and Networks


UN and Multinational

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Government

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Non-Government


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Academic Institutions

  • German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) - "a wide-ranging representative longitudinal study of private households. It provides information on all household members, consisting of Germans living in the Old and New German States, Foreigners, and recent Immigrants to Germany. The Panel was started in 1984. In 1998, there were more than 6,600 households, and more than 12,700 persons sampled. Some of the many topics include household composition, occupational biographies, employment, earnings, health and satisfaction indicators. The data are available to researchers in Germany and abroad in SPSS, SAS, TDA, STATA, and ASCII format for immediate use. Extensive documentation in English and German is available online"
  • GesundheitsAkademie e.V. - "in gemeinnütziger Zusammenschluss von Personen, Initiativen und Institutionen im Gesundheitsbereich mit dem Ziel, gesundheitsfördernde Kompetenz, ein sozial-ökologisches Gesundheitsverständnis und eine solidarische und gerechte Gesundheitspolitik zu unterstützen".
  • Jugendforschung in Deutschland - providing access to resources on social research on adolescents in Germany, rich resource, unfortunately only available in German
Postgraduate Public Health Courses at Universities Universities of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschulen)
  • FH Jena - Fachbereich Sozialwesen - Department of Social Work
    - Sozialmedizin - lots of links on social medicine and public health as part of a nursing distance learning programme - by Frank Börger
  • FH Lüneburg
    - Weiterbildungsstudiengang Angewandte Gesundheitswissenschaften - Postgraduate Program on Applied Health Sciences
  • FH Magdeburg
    - Department of Public Health and Social Services
    - Distance Learning Programme Applied Health Sciences - in cooperation with the University of Bielefeld
    - IVS - Informationsvermittlungsstelle Gesundheit - "Das Projekt bietet folgende Leistungen an:
    -- elektronische Informationsquellen für Professionelle im deutschen Gesundheitswesen
    -- individuelle Beratung bei der Suche im WWW
    -- Informationsaustausch zwischen ExpertInnen aus dem Gesundheitswesen per Email-Liste
    -- "Vor Ort"-Beratung für Einrichtungen, Dienste und Institutionen des Gesundheitswesens zur Internetnutzung"

Public Health Research Consortium
Health and Public Health related Research Units
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National Policy and Related Documents



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Reports, Guidelines, and Projects

  • Ethics in public health research: tobacco industry influence on science and scientists in Germany
    Using tobacco industry documents, we examined how and why the tobacco industry sought to influence science and scientists in Germany as a possible factor in explaining the German opposition to stricter tobacco regulation. Smoking and health research programs were organized both separately by individual tobacco companies and jointly through their German trade organization. An extensive network of scientists and scientific institutions with tobacco industry links was developed. Science was distorted in 5 ways: suppression, dilution, distraction, concealment, and manipulation. The extent of tobacco industry influence over the scientific establishment in Germany is profound. The industry introduced serious bias that probably influenced scientific and public opinion in Germany. This influence likely undermined efforts to control tobacco use. [author abstract] [Am J Public Health, 2005; 95]
  • Incomplete risk adjustment and adverse selection in the German public health insurance system
    The German statutory health insurance market was exposed to competition in 1996. To avoid adverse selection, a prospective risk compensation scheme was introduced in 1994. Due to their low contribution rates, company-based sickness funds were able to attract a lot of new members. We analyze – using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel – the determinants of these transitions from 1995 to 2000. By estimating a simultaneous two equation system, we find that health status positively, and significantly, affects the probability of changing to a company-based sickness fund, especially after controlling for age. Thus the risk compensation scheme does not fully control for the health status of the changers. Consequently, the comparative advantages of company-based funds will increase over time. This observation provides evidence for the standard Rothschild-Stiglitz separating equilibrium. [author abstract] [Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (Social Science Research Center Berlin) discussion paper FS IV 02 – 27, December 2002]
  • Prevention among immigrants: the example of Germany
    Background: A large and increasing part of the European population has a history of migration. Germany, for example, is home to about 15 million people with migrant background, which amounts to 19% of its population. Migrants may have differences in their lifestyle, health beliefs and risk factors compared to the autochthonous populations. Discussion: As for example studies on children’s participation in routine prevention activities have shown, these differences can have a relevant impact on the access of migrants to the health care system and are likely to lower their participation in prevention programs compared to the autochthonous population. To increase the uptake of prevention programs, barriers to access must be identified and approaches to reduce them must be developed. Summary: Taking the example of Germany, a need exists for prevention programs that include (migrant sensitive) and specifically address (migrant specific) migrants. These should be of sufficient scale, evidence-based, sustainable and evaluated at regular intervals. [author abstract] [BMC Public Health 2010, 10: 92]
  • Prioritisation of infectious diseases in public health: feedback on the prioritisation methodology, 15 July 2008 to 15 January 2009
    In 2004, the German public health institute, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), prioritised pathogens by public health criteria and presented the methodology and findings. In order to further improve the methodology, the RKI invited experts to give feedback on this via a structured web-based questionnaire. The survey was completed by 72 participants during 15 July 2008 to 15 January 2009. Prioritisation of pathogens was considered as useful for public health purposes by 68 participants and for both surveillance and epidemiological research by 64 participants. Additional pathogens were suggested, including some that are resistant to antimicrobials. The criteria incidence, severity, outbreak potential, emerging potential and preventability were each considered as useful or very useful for the prioritisation (by more than 65 participants for each criterion). Weighting of the criteria was judged as relevant or very relevant by 67 of participants, but needs more explanation. It was also suggested that the group carrying out the prioritisation be composed of a median of 15 experts (range: 5–1,000). The feedback obtained in the survey has been taken into account in the modification of the methodology for the next round of prioritisation, which started in December 2010. [author abstract] [Euro Surveill. 2011; 16(18): pii=19861]
  • Promoting safe walking and cycling to improve public health: lessons from the Netherlands and Germany
    Objectives: We examined the public health consequences of unsafe and inconvenient walking and bicycling conditions in American cities to suggest improvements based on successful policies in The Netherlands and Germany. Methods: Secondary data from national travel and crash surveys were used to compute fatality trends from 1975 to 2001 and fatality and injury rates for pedestrians and cyclists in The Netherlands, Germany, and the United States in 2000. Results: American pedestrians and cyclists were much more likely to be killed or injured than were Dutch and German pedestrians and cyclists, both on a per-trip and on a per-kilometer basis. Conclusions: A wide range of measures are available to improve the safety of walking and cycling in American cities, both to reduce fatalities and injuries and to encourage walking and cycling. [author abstract] [Am J Public Health. 2003; 93: 1509–1516]
  • Public and private health insurance in Germany: the ignored risk selection problem
    While risk selection within the German public health insurance system has received considerable attention, risk selection between public and private health insurers has largely been ignored. This is surprising since – given the institutional structure – risk selection between systems is likely to be more pronounced. We find clear evidence for risk selection in favor of private insurers. While private insurers are unable to select the healthy upon enrollment they manage to dump high risk individuals who then end up in the public system. This gives private insurers an unjustified competitive advantage vis-a-vis public insurers. A risk adjusted compensation would mitigate this advantage. [document abstract] [Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre der Universität Augsburg, Volkswirtschafttliche Diskussionsreihe, Beitrag Nr. 312, August 2010]
  • Public health review of the enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli outbreak in Germany
    "Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) is a human pathogenic E. coli bacterium that is able to cause haemorrhagic colitis (bloody diarrhoea), which sometimes develops into haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS). HUS is a life-threatening disease that causes kidney damage and is a severe complication of EHEC infection. EHEC belongs to the so-called Shigatoxin-producing E. coli (STEC), also known as verocytotoxin-producing E. coli (VTEC). Animals can carry other types of STEC/VTEC in their intestines that are not necessarily pathogenic for humans. Every year there are EHEC outbreaks in different parts of the world including Europe, sometimes involving HUS and even deaths, but the number of affected people is normally very much lower than what Germany is now experiencing… From 1 May to 9 June 15:00 CET, Germany has reported 759 cases of HUS, including 21 fatal cases; 68% of cases are female and 88% adults aged 20 years or older, with the highest attack rates per 100 000 population in the 20–49 age groups. From 1 May to 9 June 15:00 CET, Germany has reported 2229 cases of EHEC infections without HUS, 9 of which were fatal; 60% of cases are female and 88% adults aged 20 years or older. Most patients are from northern Germany and the area around Hamburg is especially affected. According to the Robert Koch Institute, as of 9 June the number of notified HUS/EHEC cases reported to it has declined over the past few days. The daily absolute and relative numbers of patients presenting to hospital emergency departments with bloody diarrhoea have also decreased. It is still uncertain whether this decline in outbreak activity is due to changes in consumption of raw vegetables and/or the waning of the source of infection." [World Health Organization, 10 June 2011]
  • Targets for health in Germany
    Background: Health care policy in Germany is dominated by economic (cost-containment), institutional and supply issues. Public health in general is low on the political agenda with much scope for improvement. Better health as an objective in itself has by and large been a neglected issue. Health targets are conceived of as the most promising instruments for bringing the health issues back in. This article focuses on i) the health target activities at the federal and Lander (states) level, ii) the focus of the programmes and iii) the political strategies required for successful implementation under the German institutional settings. Methods: A survey of health target programmes (analysis of policy documents) with a focus on contents (application of a modified health system model) and political strategies (application of a model for political coordinates) was used. Results: After a failed attempt to introduce health targets by the federal government in the 1980s, various states introduced or started planning health target programmes in the 1990s. These programmes vary widely in scope and focus. Meanwhile, the competent actors in the health policy arena have picked up the concept in order to make it fruitful for health care and bridge the gap between public health and health care. Moreover, health targets have reappeared on the federal political agenda. Conclusions: While the health target movement in Germany is gaining momentum the crucial issue of finding a political balance between the federal, Lander and local institutional levels remains unsolved. The future prospect of health targets in Germany will depend on solving this problem. [author abstract] [European Journal of Public Health, vol. 10, no. 4, pp.38-42, 2000]
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Original website founded Lucien E. Schlosser and Eberhard Wenzel, 1997.
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