Like most countries in Europe, Austria and Slovenia rely heavily on the family for the provision of long-term care (LTC). They differ however, as to the nature and scope of support provided to family carers (more generous in Austria, while in Slovenia family is the carer “by default”). This study uses the different institutional settings between the two countries to explore the determinants of care use, both in terms of type of care (e.g. informal vs. formal care) and tasks provided.

Despite EU law contains a very broad prohibition of discrimination in the field of work/employment on the grounds of gender, race and ethnic origin, religion or belief, age, disability and sexual orientation, there are still too many people who are not aware of the rights and the protection the relevant Directives offer. The European Commission therefore organises a series of local events focusing on one aspect in particular: reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. Magdi Birtha will act as Rapporteur at the national awareness-raising seminars and will collect good practices on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the open labour market, including existing measures to provide them with reasonable accommodation.

Development and application of a conceptual framework to address gender dimensions in long-term care for the WHO Europe region.

In 2010 the World Health Organisation launched the initiative ‘Age-friendly World’. The vision is to reshape all towns and regions into living spaces in which to grow old. The project ‘Age-friendly Region’ will contribute to bringing this vision to the Austrian-Hungarian border region by improving the situation of older people in need of care. The project will develop new approaches so that older people in need of care and their relatives can better cope within their familiar context to enjoy an appropriate quality of life in old age.