Health at a glance Europe 2012 report by OECD released

A report by the OECD entitled "Health at a Glance Europe 2012" was released. The report indicates that southern European countries, as well as Nordic countries have relatively low levels of alcohol consumption, and Turkey and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have rates well below four liters. "Since 2000, the number of nurses per capita has increased in all European countries, except in Lithuania and the Slovak Republic. The increase was particularly large in Portugal, Spain and Turkey," the report indicates, adding that most European countries have achieved universal (or near universal) coverage of health care costs for a core set of services, which usually include consultations with doctors, tests and examinations, and hospital care. "In Turkey, public coverage has increased rapidly since reforms to implement universal health insurance began in 2003 under the ten-year Health Transformation Programme," the report says