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Geographical Locations - Turkey
 The WWW Virtual Library: Public Health
Categories
Country Information
- (Statistical) Number of Inhabitants per Doctor: 1,180
- CIA World Factbook : Turkey
Organisations and Networks
UN and Multinational
Government
Non-Government
- Fisek Institute
"A non-governmental organization. The main focus of the Institute is social risk groups (working children are given priority). The Institute’s establishment is based on the individual studies of its founders in 1979, International Child Year. However, its preparation studies at the organizational level began in 1982. It is composed of Fisek Health Services and Research Institute (established in 1986) and its expert institution Fisek Institute Science and Action Foundation for Child Labor (established in 1997)"
- Turkish Public Health Association (TPHA)
"TPHA is a volunteer, non-profit and an international nongovernmental organization bringing health workers throughout Turkey together for professional exchange, collaboration and action. Its members are multidisciplinary national and regional public health societies include physicians, nurses, sanitarians, administrators, health educators, pharmacists', anthropologists, health engineers, researchers and many other persons interested in public health."
Academic Institutions
National Policy and Related Documents
Reports, Guidelines, and Projects
- Appropriateness of Emergency Department Visits in a Turkish University Hospital
Aim: To determine the patterns and appropriateness of patients’ use of a university hospital emergency department. Methods: During a 14-day period in November 1998, we collected demographic and socio-economic data, reasons for preferring emergency department care, and patient visit data from consecutive patients visiting our tertiary-care university hospital emergency department. The principle investigator reviewed the study information forms and classified visits according to the classification of Afilalo into three categories: category I – emergent emergency department visits; category II – needing evaluation within 6 hours, either in emergency department or elsewhere; or category III – needing evaluation after more than 6 hours. Three emergency medicine residency-trained physicians determined the appropriateness of emergency department evaluation. Patients in the categories II and III were retrospectively reclassified as appropriate or inappropriate, according to availability of care at the outpatient facility at the hour of initial emergency department presentation. Results: Complete data were collected from 1,155 (96.2%) of 1,201 patients visiting our emergency department during the study period. There were 69% (n=795) appropriate of visits. The mean stay at emergency department of inappropriate users lasted 66min. The main reasons of inappropriate users to prefer emergency department care were its proximity, satisfaction with care, worsening symptoms, and unavailability of care in a regular clinic. Conclusion: Although inappropriate emergency department usage was high, these patients had relatively short emergency department stays. The impact on emergency department resource utilization and “over-crowding” by these patients may not be as great as commonly perceived. [author abstract] [Croatian Medical Journal, 44(5): 585-591, 2003]
- Domestic Violence against Women in Sivas, Turkey: Survey Study
Aim: To determine the self-reported prevalence of domestic violence and associated risk factors in the Sivas province of Turkey. Method: Five hundred and eighty-three households were chosen by the method of stratified random sampling. The average age among women was 28.65 ± 4.64. A total of 45.3% of women were in 30-34 age-group, 76.5% were housewives, and 91.2% were married. The data were gathered by performing face-to-face interviews in participants’ homes. Demographic data were obtained by fill-in forms. Results: We found a statistically significant relationship among the types of violence and annual income, type of family, education and occupation level of women, education level of perpetrators, watching violent films, and childhood experience of emotional abuse or negligence. Fifty-two percent of women were exposed to at least one type of violence. Verbal violence was the most frequent type of violence (53.8%), followed by physical violence (38.3%). About 45% of women exposed to violence were in the 30-34 age group, 41.6% completed only primary schools, 73.6% were housewives, 91.7% were married, 71.0% had been exposed to violence during their childhood, and 45.2%, had been exposed to violence several times in a month. Economic problems were reported as the most important reason for domestic violence (31.4%). Conclusion: Our study found higher prevalence of domestic violence than expected. As an important public health problem, domestic violence requires a multidisciplinary approach to understand its causes and plan preventive measures. [author abstract] [Croat Med J. 2006; 47: 742-749]
- General Overview of the Public Health Sector in Turkey in 2006: Briefing Note
"The Turkish health care system is a highly complex structure, centralised and fragmented at the same time. The health care service is provided by public, social security, university, private and philanthropic organisations. Health policy-making and planning are divided and unevenly distributed between various stakeholders, but as a norm, provision of healthcare is linked to the financing institutions. There is not a 'national health service' concept, and, according to some data, as much as a third of the population has no health insurance coverage at all." [European Parliament, 2006 (IP/A/ENVI/FWC/2005-112)]
- Health Sector Reform in Turkey: Old Policies New Politics
"In December 2003, the government of Turkey announced a comprehensive reform program, titled ‘Transformation in Health’, which has, as its major components, the strengthening of Ministry of Health; universal health insurance; reorganizing health service delivery; human resources development; and developing national health information system. Similar to the reform experiences of other developing countries, improving the governance and efficiency as well as solving the problems of low levels of coverage, the low quality of services, and the skyrocketing costs have been the major areas of concern for the Turkish reformers." [Paper presented at the 2005 ESPANET Young Researchers Workshop July, 2005]
- Health System in Turkey, 2002
"A reform process has been initiated in the Health Care System in Turkey in conformity with the country’s and world’s changing and as an effort to improve the health status of the Turkish population. The aim of the Health Reform is to make health care available to all citizens of Turkey in an efficient and equitable manner. The restructuring of the Health System will allow more funds to be allocated to primary and preventive care and create a managed market for secondary and tertiary care. The autonomization of secondary and tertiary care within a social market system will allow improved quality and efficient health care. Well-collected and analized data having become a necessity for efficient management, Health Information Systems have become a major part of the reform process." [The Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Health, Ankara, 2003]
- Intestinal parasites prevalence and related factors in school children, a western city sample – Turkey
Background: Intestinal parasitic infections are amongst the most common infections worldwide. Epidemiological research carried out in different countries has shown that the social and economical situation of the individuals is an important cause in the prevalence of intestinal parasites. Previous studies in Turkey revealed a high prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection. The objectives of the current study were to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections in Aydin among 7–14 years old school children and to identify associated socio-demographic and environmental factors, behavioral habits and also related complaints. Methods: Multistage sampling was used in the selection of the study sample. A questionnaire, cellulose adhesive and a stool specimen examination were done. Results: A total of 456 stool specimens were collected. 145 students (31.8%) were infected with one or more intestinal parasites. 29 (6.4%) of the students were infected more than one parasite, 26 (5.7%) with two parasites and 3 (0.7%) with three parasites. The three most common were E. vermicularis, G. intestinalis and E. coli. Intestinal parasite prevalence was higher in rural area, in children with less than primary school educated mother, in children who use hands for washing anal area after defecation, and in children who use toilet paper sometimes or never. The relation between child health and mother education is well known. Children were traditionally taught to wash anal area by hand. Toiler paper usage was not common and might be due to low income or just a behavioral habit also. Most of the complaints of the study population were not significantly related with the intestinal parasitic infection. Conclusions: Intestinal parasitic infection is an important public health problem in Aydin, Turkey. Rural residence, mother education less than primary school, sometimes or never usage of toilet paper, and washing anal area by hands after defecation were the significant associations. Interventions including health education on personal hygiene to the students and to the parents, especially to mothers are required. The ratio of uneducated women should be declined with specific programs. A multisectoral approach is needed. [author abstract] [BMC Public Health 2004, 4: 64]
- Job satisfaction of health care staff employed at health centres in Turkey
The objective of the study was to identify job satisfaction levels and their causes among health care workers employed at public health centres. A survey was therefore carried out of health care workers in 21 health centres in Konya, Turkey. The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire was used to investigate job satisfaction. The satisfaction score and proportion of those satisfied were determined according to demographic features. The percentage of satisfied health care workers was 60% and the satisfaction score was 3.8 ± 0.5. Midwives had the lowest satisfaction scores. Working environment and income were the most important factors for dissatisfaction. There was no correlation between global satisfaction and other demographic variables. These results showed that the health care workers at public health centres in the province have low satisfaction scores. Improving working conditions and income may improve the overall quality of health care provision. [author abstract] [Occup. Med. Vol. 52 No. 6, pp.353–355, 2002]
- Moving equilibria in the public health care sector: A low-quality trap and a resolution
This paper demonstrates the existence, in a particular subset of the Turkish public health care sector, of equilibria moving towards a low-quality trap over time. The dynamics of the movement in question hinges, in part, on the socially necessary but demographically asymmetric burden, on some public health care institutions, of providing affordable health care to certain sections of the population. The paper formulates a policy option that could help the sector to escape the trap, moving the sector towards high quality-high welfare equilibria. [publication summary] [Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society, Vol. 2006, Article ID 91818, pp.1–11]
- Obesity Prevalence in Gaziantep, Turkey
Background: Obesity is associated with reduced quality of life, development of serious chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, increased medical care costs, and premature death. Environmental effects, especially feeding habits may cause hyperinsulinemia and obesity. A Healthy People 2010 objective is to reduce the proportion of adults who are obese to 15%. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 1647 persons in a sample representing Gaziantep, Turkey. Over the selected 329 houses, 310 houses were reached (94.2%) and data about 1315 related persons was collected. The body mass index (BMI) shows the relationship between the weight and the height of people, calculated by the ratio of mass by kg over the square value of height measure. In statistical analyses chi-square, student’s t-test and logistic regression analysis were used. Results: The mean BMI increased with time for both sex, whereas decreased for 60+ age group. The fastest increase for both sex was seen while transition from 18 year to 19-29 age groups occurred. Another increase in women was in 30-39 age group; BMI=25.08±4.39 in 19-29 ages whilst BMI=29.02±5.79 in 30-39 ages. The increases in both sex in other age groups were not as much as in this group. Conclusion: Obesity is not only a problem in the Gaziantep but is also a major health concern in Europe and other regions of the world. As an accepted method against obesity, life-style changes should be put into use from childhood supported in school and family life. [Indian Journal of Community Medicine, Vol. 34, Iss. 1, pp.29-34 (January 2009)]
- OECD Health Data 2006: How Does Turkey Compare
"Total health spending accounted for 7.7% of GDP in Turkey in 2004, more than one percentage point below the average of 8.9% across OECD countries… Health spending per capita in Turkey is the lowest among all OECD countries, with spending of 580 USD in 2004 (adjusted for purchasing power parity). This compares with an OECD average of 2550 USD… In Turkey, 72% of health spending was funded by public sources in 2004, slightly below the average of 73% in OECD countries. The share of public spending in Turkey has increased from 61% in 1990." [OECD]
- Reproductive Health Training of Turkish Soldiers from Certain Risk Groups
Aims: The 2003 Turkey Demographic and Health Survey (TDHS-2003) pointed out significant differences between East Anatolia and the other regions of Turkey. Some studies carried out among Turkish soldiers have underlined the need for more information on Reproductive Health (RH) issues for soldiers with lower educational level and coming from the eastern region of Turkey. Since marriage in Turkey is very important from a demographic perspective, this study has attempted to determine prevalence of marriage and certain characteristics of married soldiers who were involved in the RH courses. The aim of the study was to determine the results of RH training courses for soldiers born in the east region and married soldiers and to identify the prevalence of certain characteristics in the study group. Materials and Methods: In the frame of the Reproductive Health Program (RHP) of the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF), all soldiers received training in RH by field trainers between April 2004 and January 2006. Soldiers were tested via a questionnaire containing 25 true-false type statements before and after training. The data including 484,949 cases from the TAF RHP database was transferred to a SPSS package program. From the total cases, 135,905 soldiers were born in the Eastern Anatolia region and 36,468 were married; analyses were carried out on these latter cases. Results: Of all soldiers born in the eastern region of Turkey, 47.4% were born in Southeast Anatolia. Primary school graduates constituted the largest group (40.5%). Mean pre-course score was 63.2 ± 15.7, while postcourse score was 81.4 ± 13.8 (P < 0.001). Among soldiers born in the eastern region of Turkey, 26% (17,325) resided in other regions before their military service. A comparison of pre- and post-test scores between those still living in the east region and those living outside the east region (pre-test 62.3 and 65.7, respectively; post-test 80.8 and 83.3, respectively) revealed significant differences (P < 0.001). The overall rate of marriage among soldiers was found as 7.7%. Among all married soldiers, 70.9% were determined as in the youngest age group, what might be considered as adolescence. 37.2% of married soldiers were primary school graduates and constituted the largest group with respect to education level. The distribution of married soldiers according to the demographic regions in which they were living before military service was determined as follows: 27.9% west, 23.6% central, 11.0% south, 9.3% north, and 26.5% east. Conclusions: Living in the eastern region of Turkey is a contributing factor to low knowledge levels on issues of RH. Early marriage is one indicator of this fact. Lower general educational level seems to be the major underlying factor. [author abstract] [Turk J Med Sci 2008; 38 (6): 595-608]
- Service Quality in Private Hospitals in Turkey
As it is known, following health reforms realized in Turkey over the course of last several years the patients, who have social security, have started to benefit from private hospitals. How they are satisfied from the services given by private hospitals thus becomes an important issue. It is evident that more than half of private hospitals along the country are found in Istanbul. This leads, eventually, to a high level of competition among private hospitals in the level of Istanbul. It is a matter of fact that the customer satisfaction plays important role in the competition among private hospitals more than ever before in this city. Considering that reality this study emphasizes on the consumer satisfaction in the private hospitals found in Istanbul. Based upon a survey this study uses a dynamic model in determining the quality of hospital and the consumer satisfaction. [author abstract] [Journal of Economic and Social Research 9(1), 55-69 (2007)]
Educational Resources
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