According to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), vaccination coverage against HPV with the recommended doses up to 15 years of age reached 91% in Portugal last year, being the community country with the highest percentage of vaccination and above the EU average of 64%.

“In 2023, on average, 64% of girls in the EU will have received all recommended doses of the HPV vaccine up to the age of 15, ranging from 91% in Portugal and 7% in Bulgaria”, states the document.

The study also reveals that that year, 88% of children in the EU received two doses of the measles vaccine and only Hungary and Portugal achieved the recommended coverage of 95% for population protection against outbreaks of the disease.

Regarding hepatitis B, the OECD warns that most countries did not reach the recommended coverage of 95% with three doses of the vaccine, but Portugal was part of the group of countries that even exceeded this target.

At a European level, the “Health at a Glance” report states that, in 2021, almost a quarter of deaths (1.26 million) in the European Union (EU) were considered preventable, of which 860 thousand through effective primary prevention and other public health measures.

In 2021, the four leading causes of preventable mortality – Covid-19, lung cancer, ischemic heart disease and alcohol-related deaths – accounted for more than half (56%) of all preventable deaths in the EU.

Other important causes of preventable mortality were stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and suicide.

Overall, in 2021, almost 5.3 million people died in EU countries, 100,000 more deaths than in 2020 and more than 600,000 more than in 2019, mainly due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Despite a temporary setback during the pandemic, life expectancy at birth in the EU has increased by more than four years since 2000, to reach 81.5 years in 2023, and life expectancy once people reach 65 has never been higher , now exceeding 20 years, the report further highlights.

The study also states that across the 19 EU countries with available data, more than half of respondents expressed confidence in their governments' ability to protect the population in the event of a large-scale health emergency, while 31% believe they would not be able to .

According to the OECD, public confidence in the crisis management capacity of government institutions was highest in Finland (82%), the Netherlands (68%) and Denmark (66%), but Portugal is among the countries where this confidence is lowest (33 %).

“These large differences in trust levels can be attributed to a number of factors, including historical performance in crisis management, the strength of social welfare systems, satisfaction with key public services, assessments of a country's resources, and predisposition cultural to trust institutions in general”, explains the OECD.