Methodological approaches to examination of public health based on the “National health quality indicator” model

This article examines major methodological approaches to assessment of public health and to calculation of indicators describing the impact of specific factors on the state and quality of the nation’s health. The method for calculating the National Health Quality Indicator (NHQI) was suggested as a scientific novelty, which incorporates three qualitative groups of parameters (quality of life, quality of healthcare, and quality of society). The method involves large-scale formula-methodological tools, which allow to conduct a comparative-differential analysis of the dynamics of the National Health Quality Indicator between countries and regions. The following conclusions have been obtained based on the materials presented in the article: It has been justified that public health is a key resource that ensures shaping of a national labor potential and intellectual capital required for a sustainable and environmentally responsible socio-economic development. Qualitative indicators of public health determine the maturity of the national economy and the social sector; The World Health Organization conducts monitoring of global public health; it is objectively obvious that the structure and morbidity of the global public has changed significantly: somatic (diabetes) and psychosomatic disorders (neurosis, depression) dominate, along with new infectious diseases (HIV/AIDS); A modified method was proposed for analyzing the quality of public health in a certain country or region, which includes three groups of evaluative dimensions and is supplemented by tools for comparative-differential analysis between countries and regions in the form of the “National Health Quality Indicator” model; and The method was tested by the example of three associations of countries grouped on economic grounds: BRICS countries, leading member states of the European Union (EU-15), the USA and Canada, which form a CUSFTA partnership. The data resulting from the analysis confirm the empirical thesis of this article and also suggest that qualitative indicators of public health are largely determined by the quality and dynamics of the socio-economic development of countries and regions. © 2017, SRAC - Societatea Romana Pentru Asigurarea Calitatii. All rights reserved.