As population demographics shift, there is a worldwide increase in diseases associated with old age and rising incomes, such as dementia, arthritis, diabetes and heart disease. At the same time, the cost of developing new drugs is skyrocketing. The Conversation wanted to know how different countries’ health services are coping with these pressures.

So, with our international partners, we commissioned a series of articles. Andrew Street analyses the challenges facing the UK’s National Health Service, creaking after endless reorganisations – and with the prospect of Brexit bearing down upon it.

The US, meanwhile, spends a greater proportion of its GDP on health care (an eye-watering 17%) than any other country covered in our series. Yet, as Simon Haeder points out, this doesn’t result in a better service. Indeed, the system is beset by controversy (consider the lengthy battles over “Obamacare”), soaring costs and growing health inequality. Nearly one in ten Americans has no health insurance at all.

A World Health Organisation comparison of 191 countries, put the French healthcare system in first place. But Laurent Chambaud says that more needs to be done on preventative measures – France has one of the highest rates of tobacco use among young people.

In Australia, meanwhile, one of the biggest problems – writes Stephen Duckett – is patients not seeing their GP when they’re ill. And outcomes for the indigenous population are lamentable.

For more on these and other issues facing the world’s health systems, click here. Further articles from other countries will follow.

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