National Institute for Health Development

The healthy life expectancy in Estonia is essentially lower than the average level in the new and old EU Member States. Furthermore, the general average life expectancy in Estonia (men 66 and women 77 years) is even lower than the average level of the new Member States. In Estonia, the average life expectancy of men with higher education is up to 13,5 years longer than that of men with basic education. Women with higher education are likely to live 19 years longer than men with basic education. No other European country displays such major differences. There is a pattern that health indicators are characterized by social position – the indicators of people with the highest income and educational level are the best, for those with average income and educational level the indicators are intermediate, and the indicators of people with the lowest income and educational level are the worst ones – and this is also evident in Estonia.

Compared to the average of the old Member States, the rate of preventable injury deaths is 4 times bigger in Estonia. Traffic injuries and deaths, drowning, slaughter and suicide cases are mainly the result of abusing alcohol. In Estonia, the number of up to 14-year-old children dying of injuries and intoxications is bigger than in any other Member State.

The prevalence of mental disorders and addiction problems increases continuously. The use of illegal drugs among the 15-16-year-olds has grown from the 7 % in 1995 to 24 % in 2003. Every third boy and every fifth girl in that age group smokes cigarettes. The consumption of alcoholic beverages increases constantly and has exceeded the amount of 12 litres of absolute alcohol per person from birth to death. Suicide has become the main cause of death among the 15-29-year-olds.

The prevalence of communicable diseases increases steadily – by the end of 2005, there were more than 5000 HIV-positives and as at 2004, 429 people were suffering from tuberculosis. The case rate of tuberculosis among HIV-positives increases, as well as the number of pregnant HIV-positives.

The availability and use of health services is characterized by great regional and socio-economic divergences. Due to urbanization, it becomes more and more problematic to guarantee the availability of health services in thinly populated rural areas.

Read more: Public Health in Estonia

National Institute for Health Development is responsible for the implementation of the following ongoing strategies and projects:

National strategies and programmes:

• National Tuberculosis Prevention Programme 2004 – 2007

• National Strategy on Prevention of Drug Abuse 2005 – 2012

• National Strategy for Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases 2005-2020

• National HIV/AIDS Prevention Strategy 2006 – 2015

• National Programme for Public Health Research and Development 1999-2009

• National Children’s Rights’ Strategy (Health Chapter)

• National Cancer Prevention Strategy 2007 – 2015

National projects funded by Estonian Health Insurance Fund:

• Workplace Health Promotion

• Development of the Network of Health Promoting Hospitals

• Development of the Health Promotion in Counties and Local Municipalities

• Development of the activities of the School Health Councils

• Health Promotion in Kindergarten

EU funded projects:

• Capacity Building for Public Health Health Promotion in Central and Eastern Europe

• Closing the Gap – Strategies for Action to Tackle Health Inequalities

• EQUAL project “Integration to legal labour market of women involved in prostitution and human trafficking

• Expanding Network for Coordinated and Comprehensive Actions on HIV/AIDS Prevention among IDUs and Bridging Population

• HEPRO - Focus on Health and Social well-being in the Baltic Sea Region

• Smokefree class 2006/2007 and 2007/2008

• Shape Up - Participatory Project for the Prevention of Childhood Obesity

• Move Europe – A Campaign for the Improvement of the Lifestyle Related Workplace Health Promotion in Europe

• DETERMINE - EU Consortium for Action on Socio-Economic Determinants of Health

Non-EU funded projects:

• Global Fund to Fight Against AIDS, TB and Malaria project “Enhancement of Fight Against HIV in Estonia”

• WHO EURO “Scaling up treatment and care for HIV/AIDS and TB and accelerating prevention within the health system in the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)

Periodical research:

• Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC)

• The FINBALT Health Monitoring Survey

• Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS)

• The European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD)

• National Youth Survey on HIV/AIDS related knowledge, attitudes and behaviour

For updated News & publications please see the news page of the National Institute for Health Development.

Ministry of Social Affairs of Estonia (MoSA)

Estonian Health Insurance Fund (EHIF)

County Governments (Regional Health Councils)

Local Municipalities

NGO Health Promotion Union of Estonia (HPUE)

Tartu University Department of Public Health