Dear Colleagues,

During the last 50 years, an East–West health divide has evolved within Europe. The failure of the countries of Eastern Europe and Eurasia to substantively improve the health of their populations from the 1960s, the subsequent sharp falls in life expectancy in the 1990s, the divergence in health reforms and outcomes—as they improved—in the 2000s and beyond, all speak to the role played by socio-economic, socio-psychological and socio-cultural circumstances in shaping health reforms, policies, outcomes, and behaviors. 

This Special Issue will shine a light on the “Economics of Public Health in Eastern Europe and Eurasia”. There is particular interest in research exploring and explaining the emerging heterogeneity in health policies, outcomes, and reforms across this region, including research that examines:

 The emerging varieties of health care organization (e.g., financing, governance arrangements, decision making);

• Health policies aimed at influencing health behaviors (e.g., smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise, drug use, social distancing);
• The determinants of health outcomes and the socioeconomic gradient (e.g., morbidities and mortalities);
• The development of Health Technology Assessment (including health-related quality of life);
• Contemporary health challenges within the region (e.g., health inequalities, public–private mix, aging, communicable and non-communicable diseases). 

All contributions in these (and other relevant areas) will be considered for inclusion in this Special Issue. Preference will be given to empirical work rooted in the tradition of health economics, but all methodological (and interdisciplinary) approaches are welcomed, particularly when inclusive of genuine area expertise. Special preference will be given to comparative analyses, in the broadest sense, as well as to research emanating from a scholarship within the region itself. 

The ultimate aim of this Special Issue is to promote knowledge of the health economy and public health in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, to make it accessible to the scholarly community, and to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and best practice in the survey, surveillance, health promotion, health policy and health outcomes research between and within Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia.

Dr. Christopher Gerry
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Health economics
• Public health
• Health systems
• Health behaviours
• Health-related quality of life (HRQOL)
• Health Technology Assessment (HTA)
• Socio-economic gradient in health
• Mortality and (multi)-morbidity
• Political economy of public health
• Demography
• COVID-19