In Lithuania, as in the world, the challenges to the health care system in the last 3 years have arisen mainly due to COVID-19: remote work has started to be used more widely, we have learned to control the pandemic due to isolation measures, vaccinations and other measures.

The social and economic reforms taking place in Lithuania for the last 30 years have been negatively affecting the demographic situation and public health. It is increasingly recognized that greater efforts are needed to prevent ill health and creating wellbeing, especially among those who are most disadvantaged as well as developing e-health services and making health facilities youth-friendly. This process involves developing organizational structures, resources and commitment to improvement in health sector. In the public health policy environment, an increasing emphasis is also placed on developing public health services on the local level. 

After the adoption of the necessary legal acts, the reform of health care institutions entered the implementation phase. In the summer of 2023, a unified national Emergency Medical Service (EMS) service began to operate, a network of strengthened public health institutions and competence centers was formed, municipal health centers began to be established, and by 2025, a geographically accessible and high-quality hospital network will be formed (more here).

Lithuania participates in the international HBSC research project - monitoring of the lifestyle and health of adolescents in Europe, which is carried out according to a uniform international research protocol. The survey is conducted every four years by the initiative of the World Health Organization and covers 50 countries in Europe, North America and Asia. http://hbsc.lt/study/ (for more information about the international study, see http://hbsc.org/).