This report was prepared by Guillaume Dedet, Michele Cecchini, Emily Hewlett and Sabine Vuik. The authors wish to thank Stefano Scarpetta, Mark Pearson, and Francesca Colombo from the OECD Directorate of Employment, Labour and Social Affairs for their input. Thanks also go to Liv Gudmundson for editorial input and to Isabelle Vallard and Christina Kim for logistical assistance.
The completion of this report would not have been possible without the generous support of the Latvian authorities. This report has benefited from the expertise and material received from many health officials, health professionals, and other health experts that the OECD review team interviewed during a research mission in Latvia in December 2019. The OECD review team would like to thank the wide range of stakeholders who took the time to come and meet with them during their research mission, including teams from the Ministry of Health, the National Health Service, the State Agency for Medicines, the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the Public Health Institute, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education and Science and municipal government; representatives from associations for pharmacists, pharmaceutical manufacturers and wholesalers, nurses, and dietologists; health care providers; and a number of patient and civil society organisations.
This report has also benefited from the comments of the Latvian authorities and experts who reviewed drafts. Particular thanks go to Professor Dr Ģirts Briģis and Dr Daiga Behmane from Riga Stradins University, who acted as academic peer reviewers for this report, and public health experts from Ireland, who provided feedback on the Assessment and Recommendations chapter, for the useful comments and suggestions shared with the authors.