The perception of health and well-being differs from country to country. The same applies to our perception of quality of life. Among other things, the Danes stand out by prioritising their mental health, while, for example, the French and Americans believe that pain is one of the most important things to avoid.

A multitude of research projects at AAU focus on good health and well-being. An example is the project Measurement and Valuation of Danish Health-related Quality of Life at the Danish Center for Healthcare Improvements, which aims to ensure best possible healthcare in Denmark by involving Danish citizens in prioritisation within the health care system.

AAU was at the forefront of a large representative population survey to uncover how the Danish population wants the resources of the healthcare system to be prioritised. This survey is used in the design of the prioritisation tool QALY. According to Professor Lars Ehlers, the primary advantages of QALY are that you get an instrument to negotiate lower drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry. In addition, QALY ensures that the prioritisation of hospital medicine becomes much more unambiguous as the tool provides a common starting point from which all pharmaceutical companies must assess their medicine.

Contact

Strategic Advisor Lone Bechmann, the Faculty of Medicine, Aalborg University, lbec@adm.aau.dk