Supplements purchase intention: young consumer's perspective

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the factors that influence young consumers' purchase intention towards dietary supplements (DS) in Malaysia.Design/methodology/approachThe supplement industry in Malaysia has been growing rapidly recently due to a paradigm shift in healthcare management, from curative to prevention. Thus, it has sparked interest to conduct a study on the factors that influence young consumers' purchase intentions towards DS. With a response rate of 74.5%, a survey questionnaire was used to elicit data from 149 Gen-Y respondents who consume supplements on a regular basis.FindingsThe results revealed that the influencing factors towards purchase decisions among these Gen-Y respondents aged between 17 and 25 are based on product knowledge and product quality. The implications of these findings and directions for future research are outlined at the end of this paper.Originality/valueThis study offers empirical insights from the perspective of an emerging digital economy on the factors that influence young consumers' purchase intentions towards DS in Malaysia.

U.S. Public Transportation Ridership Analysis and Prediction based on COVID-19

In this paper, a research was conducted to analyse and predict the impacts of COVID-19 on public transportation ridership in the U.S. and 5 most populous cities of the U.S. (New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia). The paper aims to exploit the correlation between COVID-19 and public transportation ridership in the U.S. and make the reasonable prediction by machine learning models, including ARIMA and Prophet, to help the local governments improve the rationality of their policy implementation. After correlation analyses, high level of significant and negative correlations between monthly growth rate of COVID-19 infections and monthly growth rate of public transportation ridership are decidedly validated in the total U.S., and New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, except Houston. To analyse the errors of Houston, we consult the literature and made a discussion of Influencing factors. We find that the level of public transportation in quantity and utilization is terribly low in Houston. In addition, the factors, such as the lack of planning law and estimation of urban expressways, the high level of citizens' dependence on private cars and pride of owning cars play a considerable roll in the errors. And the impacts can be predicted to a certain extent through two forecasting models (ARIMA and Prophet), although the precision of our models is not enough to make a precise forecast due to the limitations of model tuning and model design. According to the comparison of the two models, ARIMA models' forecasting accuracy is between 6% and 10%, and Prophet's forecasting accuracy is between 8%-12%, depending on the city. Since the insufficient stationarity, periodicity, seasonality of time series, the Prophet models are hard be more refined. © 2023 SPIE.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Global Economic Growth: An Analytical Study

The COVID-19 pandemic originated in China and quickly spread to practically every country on the planet. Because there is no cure for the virus, countries are taking steps to prevent it from spreading. Many sectors, particularly the service sector, have seen significant reductions in activities, if not a full halt, due to these policies aimed at restricting human interaction. As a result, I will statistically assess the pandemic that has a significant impact on economic growth rates in both developing as well as developed countries. Without a doubt, the economy's consequences will be determined by how long the pandemic lasts and when it returns to normal economic activity. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on global economic growth are assessed in this paper. © 2022 IEEE.

Descriptive Study Investigating Impact of Transition to Universal Health Insurance Coverage on Utilization of Healthcare in Sudan, 2016 - 2021

Objectives: Since 2016, Sudan was transitioning from limited healthcare subsidization to universal health coverage (UHC). Increasing healthcare access was widely considered beneficial, but some worried that UHC would overwhelm clinical services. In 2020 and 2021 UHC faced the challenge of Covid-19. We undertook a review of national healthcare utilization and enrolment data in order to better understand the impact of UHC in Sudan. Method(s): We conducted a descriptive study using National Health Insurance Fund databases. We analyzed annual enrolment, participating facilities, prescription volume and utilization from 2016 to 2021. Enrolment was stratified by employment status (government, informal sector, private sector, pensioner, impoverished). Utilization was assessed by type of care: primary, specialty, chronic disease and other;we calculated the ratio of primary to specialty care visits. We used the Mann-Kendall test for evaluating trends. Result(s): Participating facilities increased from 2,083 in 2016 to 3,549 in 2019, with slight contraction to 3,495 during 2020-21. Annual enrolment increased significantly, from 16.4 million in 2016 to 36.5 million in 2021 (p value < 0.01). The impoverished sector had the largest increase in enrolment (217%);informal sector had the lowest enrolment growth rate (7%). Volume of primary healthcare visits and prescriptions increased every year, except 2020, the first year of Covid-19 in Sudan. Specialty healthcare visits decreased over the same period, from 2,461,424 to 1,249,585 (p < 0.01). The ratio of primary to specialty visits increased from 6.0 in 2016 to 15.7 in 2021 (p < 0.001). Conclusion(s): In Sudan, transition to UHC increased utilization of primary care services, but at a slower rate than enrolment growth. The ratio of primary to specialty visits increased and specialty visits declined, suggesting that more primary care may have prevented specialist-requiring disease states and sequelae. Fears of overwhelming the health system were unfounded indicating that other barriers to healthcare might exist.Copyright © 2023

A KdV-SIR equation and its analytical solutions: An application for COVID-19 data analysis.

To describe the time evolution of infected persons associated with an epidemic wave, we recently derived the KdV-SIR equation that is mathematically identical to the Kortewegde Vries (KdV) equation in the traveling wave coordinate and that represents the classical SIR model under a weakly nonlinear assumption. This study further discusses the feasibility of applying the KdV-SIR equation and its analytical solutions together with COVID-19 data in order to estimate a peak time for a maximum number of infected persons. To propose a prediction method and to verify its performance, three types of data were generated based on COVID-19 raw data, using the following procedures: (1) a curve fitting package, (2) the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method, and (3) the 28-day running mean method. Using the produced data and our derived formulas for ensemble forecasts, we determined various estimates for growth rates, providing outcomes for possible peak times. Compared to other methods, our method mainly relies on one parameter, σo (i.e., a time independent growth rate), which represents the collective impact of a transmission rate (ß) and a recovery rate (ν). Utilizing an energy equation that describes the relationship between the time dependent and independent growth rates, our method offers a straightforward alternative for estimating peak times in ensemble predictions.

Temporal Analysis of Medicare Physician Reimbursement for Common Gastroenterology Procedures From 2007 to 2022

Introduction: As the U.S. population ages, gastroenterologists will provide care for an increasing number of older patients - many of whom use Medicare. In recent years there have been significant policy changes surrounding Medicare reimbursement for physicians. Understanding reimbursement trends can help reveal the financial impact of these policies on gastroenterologists. Our study aims to analyze the trends in Medicare reimbursement of common gastrointestinal (GI) services from 2007 to 2022. Method(s): The top 10 GI procedures and their respective CPT codes were identified through a joint list published by the American College of Gastroenterology, American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and American Gastroenterological Association. The top 5 5 CPT codes relating to office/inpatient visits provided by gastroenterologists to Medicare Part B beneficiaries was identified using data from CMS. The Physician Fee Schedule Look-Up Tool from CMS was queried for the selected CPT codes from 2007 to 2022, to determine the facility reimbursement rate by Medicare for each service. The reimbursement data were adjusted to January 2022 U.S. dollars using the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics' consumer price index inflation calculator. Result(s): The unadjusted physician reimbursement for GI procedures exhibited an average decrease of 7.0% (95% CI, 29.9% to 24.1%) from 2007 to 2022. After adjusting for inflation, the mean decrease in physician reimbursement for procedures was 33.0% (95% CI, 235.1% to 230.9%). The mean annual growth rate in reimbursement was 22.6% (95% CI, 22.8% to 22.4%). The unadjusted physician reimbursement for inpatient and outpatient visits exhibited an average increase of 32.1% (95% CI, 4.8% to 59.3%). After adjusting for inflation, physician reimbursement for patient visits exhibited a mean decrease of 4.92% (Figure 1). Conclusion(s): The analysis revealed a steady decline in adjusted and non-adjusted reimbursement between 2007 and 2022. Decreasing Medicare reimbursement may impact health outcomes, healthcare access, and patient satisfaction. Reimbursement policies must be scrutinized particularly in the light of high inflation and increased costs due to additional costs associated with care during the COVID-19 pandemic, staffing shortages, and increased staffing salaries. (Figure Presented).

The effect of increasing health disaster risk and public spending on economy conditions: a DSGE perspective

PurposeThe main motivation of the present study is to understand the severity of the effect of health shock on Iran's oil economy and analyze the role of government under these conditions.Design/methodology/approachDynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models can show the precise interactions between market decision-makers in the context of general equilibrium. Since the duration of the virus outbreak and its effect on the economy is not known, it is more appropriate to use these models.FindingsThe results of the survey of hands-on policies scenarios compared to the state of hands-off policy indicate that the effect of government expending shocks on the economy under pandemic disease conditions has much less feedback on macroeconomic variables.Originality/valueAs a proposed policy, it is recommended that the government play a stabilizing role under pandemic disease conditions.Key messages There is no study regarding health shock and its economic effects in Iran using DSGE models. Also, in foreign studies, the health shock in an oil economy has not been modeled.The general idea in the present study is how the prevalence of a pandemic infectious disease affects the dynamics of macroeconomic variables.In three different scenarios, according to the persistence of health disaster risk and the deterioration rate of health capital due to this shock, the model is simulated.In modeling pandemic diseases, quarantine hours are considered as part of the total time of individuals.According to the research findings, it is recommended that the government, as a policy-maker, play a stabilizing role under pandemic crises conditions.

Epidemiological Characteristics of Community-Acquired Pneumonia during the Covid-19 Epidemic in the Russian Federation

COVID-19 belongs to the group of acute respiratory infections and it is often complicated with pneumonia. This study aimed to investigate manifestations of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) epidemic process during the COVID-19 epidemic in the Russian Federation. We analyzed the official statistical data reporting the incidence of CAP in the Russian Federation in 2013-2020 and incidence of COVID-19 as registered in March-July 2020. The mean average annual CAP incidence rate that we calculated and the 2020 CAP incidence prediction allowed assessing the relationship between CAP and COVID-19. It is shown that the long-term dynamics of the incidence of CAP in the Russian Federation is characterized by a pronounced upward trend with an average annual growth rate of 6.4%. The share of adult population among the CAP cases is the largest;on average, it is 64.7% (95% CI [63.1;66.3]). In 2020, against the background of SARS-CoV-2 circulation, the discrepancy between the actual incidence of CAP and the predicted figures reached and exceeded 558% (in July 2020). As the COVID-19 epidemic developed, the incidence of CAP was registered to increase. There was established a direct and significant correlation between the incidence of CAP and COVID-19 (rxy = 0.932;p <0.01).Copyright © 2022 Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproduction. All rights reserved.

Covid19 Impact OnTwelve Sectors Of The Indian Economy

This study aims to investigate the reaction of COVID-19 cases (confirmed, deaths, recovered, & active) on twelve sectors of Indian economy by using sectoral indices of national stock exchange. Daily frequency of COVID-19 case categories was obtained from Worldometer from January 30, 2020 to June 30, 2020 and dataset of daily closing prices of twelve sectoral indices (auto, banks, financial services, fast moving consumer goods, information technology, media, metal, oil & gas, pharmaceutical, public sector banks, private banks, realty sector) was obtained from national stock exchange web portal for the same period as of COVID-19. In this study, the ordinary least square regression was used to study the significance of COVID-19 cases (confirmed, deaths, recovered, & active) on twelve sectoral indices. Empirical evidence suggested no significant impact of COVID-19 cases on daily returns of twelve major sectors represented by sectoral indices except in the case of pharmaceutical sector, where daily growth in number of deaths is impacting daily returns on pharmaceutical sectoral index in a positive way. The twelve sectoral indices went into a downward spiral at the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, but as government and central bank introduced various policy measures, the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on sectoral indices faded away.Copyright © 2020 Ubiquity Press. All rights reserved.

Do the macro and global economic factors drive the nonperforming loans in GCC economies?

PurposeThe current study aims to investigate the determinants of nonperforming loans (NPLs) in the GCC economies during the period spanning 2000 to 2018. It also examines whether the worldwide financial crisis of 2007–2008, which brought the issue of non–performing loans to the greater attention of academics and policymakers, had a substantial impact on NPLs in this region.Design/methodology/approachThe sample consists of 53 conventional banks from GCC countries, and the basic data for the study is obtained from various sources such as Bankscope, IMF World Economic Outlook, World Bank and Chicago Board of Options Exchange Market Volatility Index. The estimations were done by dynamic panel data regression modeling using system generalized methods of moments.FindingsThe findings reveal that both, the non-oil real GDP growth rate and inflation have favorable effects on NPLs. On the other hand, domestic credit to the private sector and the volatility index have an adverse effect on NPLs. Furthermore, the period-wise analysis shows that the relevance and significance of the determinants of NPLs vary between the precrisis and postcrisis periods. It is also reflected through the intercept dummy, which is found to be significant, indicating that the financial crisis, as a global economic factor, had a significant impact on NPLs. A number of robustness tests are applied, which indicate that the results are mostly robust and consistent in terms of the significance of the explanatory variables and the direction of their relationship with the dependent variable.Practical implicationsPolicymakers and bank authorities must strive to maintain a healthy economy and implement macroprudential policies to improve the financial stability of banks and reduce credit risk.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is likely the first study that empirically investigates the influence of the financial crisis on NPLs in the context of GCC economies. In addition, the research spans 19 years to produce more conclusive results.

ARIMA Model based Time Series Modelling and Prediction of Foreign Exchange Rate against US Dollar

Exchange rate forecasting has proven challenging for players like traders and professionals in this current financial industry. Econometric and statistical models are often utilized in the analysis and forecasting of foreign exchange rate. Governments, financial organizations, and investors prioritize analyzing the future behaviour of currency pairs because this analyzing technique is being utilized to understand a country's economic status and to make a decision on whether to do any transactions of goods from that country. Several models are used to predict this kind of time-series with adequate accuracy. However, because of the random nature of these time series, strong predicting performance is difficult to achieve. During the Covid-19 situation, there is a drastic change in the exchange rate worldwide. This paper examines the behaviour of Australia's (AUD) daily foreign exchange rates against the US Dollar from January 2016 to December 2020 and forecasts the 2021 exchange rate using the ARIMA model. For better accuracy, technical indicators such as Interest Rate Differential, GDP Growth Rate and Unemployment Rate are also taken into account. In exchange rate forecasting, there are various types of performance measures based on which the accuracy of the forecasted result is computed. This paper examines seven performance measures and found that the accuracy of the forecasted results is adequate with the actual data. © 2022 IEEE.

COVID-19 complications and economic recovery of China: guidelines for other economies

PurposeCoronavirus (COVID-19) brought massive economic damage throughout the globe. Economic as well as social set-ups have enormously collapsed. The present paper underlines some economic complications of China during COVID-19. The study also sheds light on initiatives taken by the government of China to fight against such a damaging pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed secondary research or desk research that involves existing data. The data were collected from reliable sources, described below. The data were summarized and organized to increase the overall efficacy and reliability of the research.FindingsThe study finds that China has confronted many downturns in export and import, GDP decline, blockage of markets and production evaluation. To recover from these unfavorable and adverse circumstances, China has recovered its economy by introducing digital transformation, effective legislations, A V-shaped recovery and A U-shaped recovery in manufacturing and services.Practical implicationsChina's steps and initiatives to invigorate economic developments during a pandemic would be beneficial for other economies facing the severe challenges of economic development, especially after COVID-19.Originality/valueThe present study is one of the rare studies of the domain that offers the guidelines to the policymakers and economists of developing countries to develop their policies regarding the digital economy to face the traditional market's challenges.

Energy Sufficiency in the Passenger Transport of Lithuania

This paper aims to understand the significance of energy sufficiency (ES) in passenger transport for the long-term resolution of energy, climate, and sustainable development issues in Lithuania. It computes related indicators, by fixing the passenger-kilometres (pkm) travelled by various modes of transportation and applying a scenario analysis with the MESSAGE model. The findings indicated that the country's final energy consumption (FEC) in transportation could be reduced by 21.8% by 2050 due to slowing growth rate of distances travelled by passenger car but increasing use of public transport and bicycles. This would result in a decrease in the growth rate of primary energy consumption (PEC) by half (to 0.3% a year), an increase in the use of renewable energy sources (RES) to 67.2% in the PEC structure, savings of oil products by 6.4 TWh, and savings of new electricity generation capacity by 550 MW. Furthermore, 20 MtCO2eq. in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions could be realised between 2021 and 2050. To take advantage of the potential of ES, the policy measures of passenger car demand containment and a shift to non-motorised and less polluting modes of transportation should be implemented. Furthermore, priority should be given to policy measures that encourage use of public transportation.

Enhancing Sales of Green Agricultural Products through Live Streaming in China: What Affects Purchase Intention?

Live streaming of agricultural products can reduce farmer losses caused by unsalable agricultural products and increase the income of farmers. Live streaming can be especially effective for green product sales as it can increase viewer understanding of and interest in the production and attributes of green products. Using the stimulus, organization, and response theoretical framework, this paper explores the influence of agricultural products anchors' characteristics on consumers' purchasing behavior and the mediating effect of green consumption cognition. The data come from surveys distributed online to Chinese shoppers who had participated in an agricultural livestreaming event. A total of 691 valid responses were received. Anchor characteristics of influence, sales promotion, and interactive entertainment were found to positively impact consumers' purchasing behavior. Green consumption cognition, composed of environmental problem perception and green consumption awareness, has a positive impact on purchasing intent. Furthermore, anchor characteristics of influence and sales promotion can positively influence consumers' purchasing behavior indirectly through green consumption cognition.

Financial Reportings and Analysis Practices in Tata Steel and Corus Acquisition: Their Association with Growth Rate and Financial Performance

This research article examined the financial reporting and analysis practices in Tata steel and Corus acquisition: Their association with growth rate and financial performance. This article analyzes the reasons and the effect of the Acquisition of Corus by paying 12.33 billion dollars to buy which is one of the biggest acquisitions by an Indian Company at the cross border. This paper also emphasizes this acquisition led to global growth in Steel Industry. The sample size of this research consists of Tata Steel and Corus Company which underwent acquisitions during 2007–08. This paper also emphasizes the significance of developing skills in analyzing and interpreting financial statements to maintain financial position and progress. To understand the distinguishing characteristics, problems and needs of the organization's growth performance, the published audited report from 2002–2022 was studied and interpreted. To measure the significance of the organization's performance the author adopted comparative, ratio analysis and other statistical tools were adopted. The study shows that there is important growth in income and financial position of companies after the merger, the growth can result in financial stresses and excessive use of debts as such cash flow difficulties. But the coronavirus (Lockdown) the company faced a downfall in their profits. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Methane emissions are predominantly responsible for record-breaking atmospheric methane growth rates in 2020 and 2021

The global atmospheric methane growth rates reported by NOAA for 2020 and 2021 are the largest since systematic measurements began in 1983. To explore the underlying reasons for these anomalous growth rates, we use newly available methane data from the Japanese Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) to estimate methane surface emissions. Relative to baseline values in 2019, we find that a significant global increase in methane emissions of 27.0 ± 11.3 and 20.8 ± 11.4 Tg is needed to reproduce observed atmospheric methane in 2020 and 2021, respectively, assuming fixed climatological values for OH. We see the largest annual increases in methane emissions during 2020 over Eastern Africa (14 ± 3 Tg), tropical Asia (3 ± 4 Tg), tropical South America (5 ± 4 Tg), and temperate Eurasia (3 ± 3 Tg), and the largest reductions are observed over China (-6 ± 3 Tg) and India (-2 ± 3 Tg). We find comparable emission changes in 2021, relative to 2019, except for tropical and temperate South America where emissions increased by 9 ± 4 and 4 ± 3 Tg, respectively, and for temperate North America where emissions increased by 5 ± 2 Tg. The elevated contributions we saw in 2020 over the western half of Africa (-5 ± 3 Tg) are substantially reduced in 2021, compared to our 2019 baseline. We find statistically significant positive correlations between anomalies of tropical methane emissions and groundwater, consistent with recent studies that have highlighted a growing role for microbial sources over the tropics. Emission reductions over India and China are expected in 2020 due to the Covid-19 lockdown but continued in 2021, which we do not currently understand. To investigate the role of reduced OH concentrations during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 on the elevated atmospheric methane growth in 2020–2021, we extended our inversion state vector to include monthly scaling factors for OH concentrations over six latitude bands. During 2020, we find that tropospheric OH is reduced by 1.4 ± 1.7 % relative to the corresponding 2019 baseline value. The corresponding revised global growth of a posteriori methane emissions in 2020 decreased by 34 % to 17.9 ± 13.2 Tg, relative to the a posteriori value that we inferred using fixed climatological OH values, consistent with sensitivity tests using the OH climatology inversion using reduced values for OH. The counter statement is that 66 % of the global increase in atmospheric methane during 2020 was due to increased emissions, particularly from tropical regions. Regional flux differences between the joint methane–OH inversion and the OH climatology inversion in 2020 are typically much smaller than 10 %. We find that OH is reduced by a much smaller amount during 2021 than in 2020, representing about 10 % of the growth of atmospheric methane in that year. Therefore, we conclude that most of the observed increase in atmospheric methane during 2020 and 2021 is due to increased emissions, with a significant contribution from reduced levels of OH.

Effect of Replacing Feldspar by Philippine Black Cinder on the Development of Low-Porosity Red Stoneware

Stoneware is a ceramic material with low porosity and high mechanical properties, such as the modulus of rupture. It is essentially made of clay, feldspar and quartz and is sintered to create a mixture of glass and crystalline phases. With the projected growth rate of the global ceramics market size and the country's development plan for 2023–2028, it is imperative that alternative raw materials for the manufacture of ceramic products be sourced so that the importation of these materials, such as feldspar, be minimized, if not eliminated. Cinder in the Philippines is mainly used as a filling material in pavements and residential areas. In this study, this resource is utilized as partial and full replacement of feldspar in a typical ternary diagram for stoneware production. Bars were formed from different formulations by the slip casting method and were sintered at 1200 °C. Physical and mechanical properties of the bars, such as shrinkage, loss on ignition, water absorption, apparent porosity and modulus of rupture were determined. Thermo-physical analyses were also carried out on the raw materials and on formulated powders. Meeting the requirements of the various quality standards for ceramics, the partial replacement of feldspar with black cinder (LF, LFBQ and LFBH) is feasible for wall and roof applications while full replacement of feldspar with black cinder (LB) is suitable for wider use as wall, floor, vitrified, industrial and roof tiles.

Estimation of reproduction numbers in real time: Conceptual and statistical challenges.

The reproduction number R has been a central metric of the COVID-19 pandemic response, published weekly by the UK government and regularly reported in the media. Here, we provide a formal definition and discuss the advantages and most common misconceptions around this quantity. We consider the intuition behind different formulations of R , the complexities in its estimation (including the unavoidable lags involved), and its value compared to other indicators (e.g. the growth rate) that can be directly observed from aggregate surveillance data and react more promptly to changes in epidemic trend. As models become more sophisticated, with age and/or spatial structure, formulating R becomes increasingly complicated and inevitably model-dependent. We present some models currently used in the UK pandemic response as examples. Ultimately, limitations in the available data streams, data quality and time constraints force pragmatic choices to be made on a quantity that is an average across time, space, social structure and settings. Effectively communicating these challenges is important but often difficult in an emergency.

The influence of financial literacy and financial attitude on financial management behavior: A study on culinary micro SMEs in Rawamangun Urban Village, East Jakarta City

The goal of this research is to determine how financial literacy and financial attitude influence financial management behavior in Culinary MSMEs in Rawamangun, East Jakarta City. The type of research used is explanatory research. The sampling method is probability with area sampling. Samples were collected from 50 Culinary MSMEs actors in East Jakarta's Rawamangun Urban Village. The primary data used are questionnaire responses on a five-point Likert scale. Multiple Regression Analysis was used to analyze the data, aided by SPSS version 25.0. Based on the results of testing, the two hypotheses show that financial literacy and financial attitudes positively and significantly influence financial management behavior in Culinary MSMEs actors in Rawamangun Urban Village. Theoretically, this study recommends further research to analyze in-depth other variables that shape the financial management behavior of Culinary MSMEs in Rawamangun Urban Village. Practically, this study highlights the need for education and literacy to strengthen the financial management behavior of culinary entrepreneurs, with the aim of improving the economy and business through insightful activities such as education, and training courses that focus on savings, loans, investments and insurance.

Health expenses and financing: The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

From 2013 to 2019, expenditure growth rates have increased sharply in almost all European countries. This increase followed a period of stabilization, or in many cases a negative trend in health expenditure ratios across the European Union, resulting from the economic crisis that began in 2008. Expenditure in 2020 in all European states was significantly affected by the COVID-19 disease pandemic. The level of health expenditure and how it changes over time depends on a wide range of factors, including the organizational structure of the health system. Examination of these data reveals wide fluctuations in the levels, with increase of expenditures, especially in the financing of countries to deal with the pandemic. The European Union has financed its member-states through special programmes, in order to cope with the increased demands. This article attempts to analyze the health costs before the COVID-19 period and the ways in which they have been affected during the pandemic. In addition, the impact of the spread of the pandemic on the supply chain of medical supplies and medical equipment, and its expenditure, at the national and the European Union level, is presented.Copyright © Athens Medical Society