Statistic from Hungary
Area: 93,030 sq. km
Population: 10,197,119
Population density: 110 persons/sq. km
Per capita GDP (thousand HUF): 1,304
Consumer price index (2000, previous year = 100) 109.8
HUNGARY IN BRIEF
Territory: 1 percent of the area of Europe.
Capital city: Budapest (consisting of 23 districts).
Administrative units: 19 counties + the capital city.
Official language: Hungarian (Magyar) belonging to the Finno-Ugrian family of languages.
The name Magyar means ‘Man’.
Conquest of Hungary completed by 900 AD.
King Stephen (1000-1038) crowned in 1000 AD — the year 2000 marked the millennium of the existence of Hungary as a state.
After World War II: one of the ‘socialist countries’.
October 21, 1989: promulgation of the Constitution; ~- Hungary became a parliamentary republic.
1990: first free elections — six-party single chamber Parliament, 386 Members of Parliament elected for 4 year terms.
1998: third free elections — governing coalition led by FIDESZ- Hungarian Civic
Party holds 56% of the seats in Parliament.
Hungary is member of the:
•World Health Organization;
•Council of Europe;
•Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD);
•NATO.
Association Agreement (Europe Agreement) with the European Union (1991).
Hungary’s population by age and sex
1 January 2000
Population in thousands
Age-groups
NURSING AND NURSING POLICY
In Hungary, nursing was not developed appropriately for several decades and the majority of the scarce resources was focused on diagnosing and treating diseases and impairments, on developing medical education and on medical research. Due partly to these factors, partly to other misconceived decisions, a gap has arisen between medicine and nursing. Today, nursing policy in Hungary is based on the underlying principle that nursing constitutes an organic part of the country’s health care delivery system, while having also close links to other subsystems of the welfare system. The new Health Law of 1997 defines nursing, for the first time ever, and provides that only qualified practitioners may engage in the practice of nursing. The Act also outlines a registration system for nurses and other health care workers.
Nursing, and nursing policy for that matter, have to be able to respond to the nursing needs of society. These needs will be influenced by many factors, including the legal and regulatory framework, the population’s age distribution, the overall health status and the most prevalent conditions etc. of the people living in the country. As the following figures and tables will show, Hungarians have poor health status with many of the lifestyles-related chronic non-communicable diseases being highly prevalent (smoking is a major killer, excessive drinking, sedentary lifestyles). This requires from nurses to engage in health promotion and disease prevention across people’s lifespan and in all settings. The country’s population is decreasing steadily, as fewer babies are born and more people die, the death toll being unfortunately high among the middle-aged males. Not only are we Hungarians less and less, but we are also growing older. Many pregnancies are terminated and very often the babies that are born will have low birth-weight and other problems due to their mothers’ unhealthy lifestyles during pregnancy. In an effort to respond to these special needs, mother and child health nurses (MCH nurses or health visitors) should improve their activities aimed at protecting the unborn child, infants, children, mothers and mothers-to-be, women’s health and the health of families. Nurses should have appropriate technical skills to care for the physically ill, the mentally handicapped and the mentally ill. There is a great need for rehabilitation to allow those with some chronic condition to reintegrate into society and lead meaningful lives. And for those with terminal illness, adequate palliative care and hospice care will need to be delivered.