Public health challenges in Poland

Contribution presented at the 4^th Calisia World Conference on Family Health, University of Kalisz, Poland, 7-9 October 2024
Public health in Poland is facing serious challenges, including changes in the demographic structure, increases in the incidence of chronic diseases, especially in population over 65 years old, increases in mental health problems and infectious diseases, as well as declining vaccination rates.
Since the 1960s the demographic structure of Polish population has undergone significant changes. After the Second World War (WWII) up until the late 1990s, the number of inhabitants was gradually increasing, reaching 38 million inhabitants. In the years 2000-2024, despite some fluctuations, a decrease in population size was observed, especially due to lower fertility rates and emigration. In the 1960s, the population was characte­rised by higher numbers of inhabitants of pre-working and working age, whereas since then we have observed a gradual increase in the post-working age population. In the 1950s the median age in Poland equalled 25.8 years, in 2020 it was 41.8 years, and it is predicted that the median age in 2070 will be 53.6 years [1]. This demographic shift will have serious consequences for public health, putting a greater strain on healthcare and social services. On the other hand, life expectancy visibly increased since the 1990s. However, this continuous increase plateaued in 2016 for women and in 2014 for men [2]. The subsequent COVID-19 pandemic rapidly decreased life expectancy by 2 years. More than 200,000 excess deaths in the period 2020-2023 were recorded in Poland, one of the highest numbers of excess deaths in Europe during the pandemic. In 2023 cardiovascular diseases and cancers caused more than 60% of all deaths in Poland. Cancers are the cause of about 25% of all deaths and should be considered separately in regard to their location/type and require an individual approach. Trends in mortality due to lung cancer and stomach cancer have shown impressive declines in recent decades, but neoplasms are one of the biggest challenges for public health. Special consideration should also be paid to alcohol health burden. Mortality from 100% alcohol-attributable causes increased in Poland from 7.5 per 100,000 (13.9 in men, 1.7 in women) in 2002 to 17.8 per 100,000 (29.3 in men, 7.1 in women) in 2019 [2]. Improvement of the population’s health should be addressed equally in the actions of primary,...


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