On 11 October 2018, Governments of 181 countries and the European Union met in Geneva for the 8th conference of the parties to the global tobacco treaty, formally called the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The tobacco industry has a history of using legal threats to intimidate governments into abandoning the […]
Blood donation – Swiss politician calls for donors to be remunerated
National councillor Pierre-André Page (UDC/SVP) would like to see some form of remuneration offered to blood donors to address the shortage of blood, according to RTS. “A glass of red and a sandwich is fine but we could do better” Page told the newspaper 20 Minutes, suggesting donors be remunerated from the social tax pot […]
Number of cases of tick-borne encephalitis rises sharply in Switzerland
In around 1% of cases tick-borne encephalitis can be deadly. It is a virus carried by ticks, which can cause brain swelling and neurological damage. The period between March and November is when most people get infected, according to the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH). Ticks become active when the temperature reaches 7 […]
Swiss Rail plans barriers to stop suicides
According to RTS, Swiss Rail is planning to erect barriers in seven places between Lausanne and Geneva to reduce the number of suicides. Nearly 140 people across Switzerland die in rail related suicide every year. Around 20 of these occur between Lausanne and Geneva, one of the worst stretches of track in the country. The […]
Survey reveals sexual behaviour of young Swiss
A survey of 7,142 Swiss, with an average age of 26, conducted by two university hospitals, was published this week. 95% of those surveyed had had at least one sexual partner, and 86% had had only heterosexual relationships. The average age for the first relationship was 17. 62% of men and 44% of women had […]
Vaud caps health insurance premiums at 12% of income
Starting in September 2018, health insurance premiums in excess of 12% of income in the canton of Vaud will be covered by the government. From the beginning of 2019, this percentage will be reduced to 10%, increasing the number of people who qualify and the size of the subsidies, according to the newspaper Le Matin. […]
Halogen light bulbs to be banned in Switzerland
At the beginning of September 2018, Swiss retailers stopped replacing their stocks of nearly all halogen light bulbs. Along with standard incandescent bulbs, which were forced from Swiss shop shelves in 2013, the sale of halogen bulbs will be banned from the end of August 2019. The only halogen bulbs that will remain on sale […]
Swiss healthcare – French and Italian speakers more likely to run to hospital than German-speakers
A recent report by the Swiss Health Observatory (Obsan), presents the number of trips residents made to hospital accident and emergency departments (A&E) in 2016. The number of visits per 1,000 residents varies widely. The average across all of Switzerland was 197. However, in the canton of Appenzell-Innerhodden only 53 per 1,000 of the population […]
Superbugs from New Zealand and Australia infecting Swiss hospitals
Antibiotic resistant gut bacteria, identical to those which have been found in Australia and New Zealand, are being found more frequently in Swiss hospitals according to Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH). The bacteria vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are most likely travelling to Switzerland via people who have spent time in these regions. Many carrying […]
Swiss health insurance companies aim to make it easier to break contracts
Swiss health insurance companies are aiming to change laws to make it easier for them to unilaterally end complementary insurance contracts, according to the newspaper Le Matin. Health insurers have managed to get this possibility included in a project aimed at revising Switzerland’s laws on insurance contracts, set for discussion by a parliamentary committee this […]
