ABSTRACT
This chapter explains both the health of Europe's population and health policy within the European context. It discusses the health policy response. In many cases the national policies have responded to the emphasis placed by World Health Organization (WHO) on 'health gain', and WHO Health-For-All targets provide a consistent theme. The state socialist principles formerly evident in regimes of central and eastern Europe provide a third pan-European element to health policy. According to the Europe-wide monitoring programme, the great majority of all reported adult and adolescent acquired immunodeficiency syndrome cases in Russia have been contracted through either homosexual or heterosexual behaviour. The incidence map of Europe appears as an anomaly with regard to the expected latitudinal pattern, with higher rates for the Nordic countries than in southern Europe, and with Norway at the top of the list. Norway is a country of remarkable contrasts in terms of its health geography. Cancer accounts for about 22% of all deaths in Norway.
