Economic crisis on public health

It is now obvious, in Belgium as in other industrialised countries that the economy has en-tered into a recession. This crisis has occurred in a context that WHO judges alarming. The last report of WHO denounces inequalities in access to care during this time of recession (1). WHO is concerned about the impact of the crisis on people's health. Margaret Chan, Direc-tor-General of WHO, said that it would not be surprising to observe an increase in the prevalence of stress, suicide and mental disorders (speech of the twenty-third Forum on Global Issues Berlin Germany, 18 March 2009). Yet, some economic studies conducted dur-ing previous periods of crisis nuance alarmist generated results showing that recession might have a positive impact on the health of the populations. Could the economic crisis be good for your health? Surprisingly, the loss of income caused by an economic crisis may have beneficial effects on health in the short term. Indeed, some studies have found that for instance if people have more time and less money, they tend to smoke less, exercise more and prepare their own meals. Christopher Ruhm, an economist, published an article in 2000 (2) where he presents a historical analysis of the 1970s and 1980s. He demonstrates that in the United States, th