Health Systems in Transition

Health systems in transition

Portugal

Following a political crisis in 2011 and the Economic and Financial Adjustment

Programme (see section 1.2), Portugal held general elections; these replaced the

central-left wing Socialist Party, in power since 2005, with a central-right-

wing coalition between the Social Democratic Party and the Social Democratic

Centre/Popular Party. That government had a majority in the parliament and

ruled during the 3-year Economic and Financial Adjustment Programme

(2011–2014) in close touch with the three financial institutions (see section 1.2),

which assessed the programme every 3 months. Despite winning general

elections in October 2015, the right-wing coalition did not succeed in renewing

the majority in the parliament. Instead, an unprecedented left-wing coalition

allowed the leader of the Socialist Party to be appointed prime minister by

the president. The majority comprised by the Socialist Party, the Communist

Party, the Greens and the Left Bloc currently support the Socialist Government

in the parliament.

Portugal is a member of many international organizations, including

the EU, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the United Nations, the

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the

Council of Europe and the World Health Organization (WHO). EU directives,

such as those regarding health policies, largely determine national policies

and legislation.

1.4 Health status

Portugal has made significant progress in both reducing mortality rates and

increasing life expectancy at birth during the last 40 years. The introduction

of a universal immunization programme in 1965, the expansion of health care

services, especially pushed by the creation of the NHS in 1979, and the overall

improvements in general living conditions have brought remarkable reductions

in infant mortality rate and a steady increase in life expectancy, especially

among women (Table 1.3).

In 2014, average life expectancy at birth in Portugal was 81.3 years, slightly

higher than the EU average that year (80.9 years) (Eurostat, 2016b). However,

estimates of life expectancy are quite different between men and women in

Portugal. According to 2014 figures, Portuguese women are expected to live

6.4 years longer than men (Table 1.3), whereas the EU average is 5.5 years

(Eurostat, 2016b).