PhD dissertation: "Demand in the wellness market for services in the Czech Republic and abroad" deals with an emerging sphere in the market for services. The service sector contributes not only to the GDP but participates in improving living standards in developed countries. Wellness market for services could influence the way how to spend free time, increase the whole quality individual lives and contribute to reduce spending on health care in the future. In the introductory part there is analyzed the current situation on the wellness market in the Czech Republic. The view of some Czech businessmen on the wellness market for services is often considered (for the purpose) as a way of earnings regardless the broader content of the sphere connected with the healthy lifestyle. The term "wellness" often includes activities which do not concern this sphere, only use this term for marketing purpose. The dissertation is based on the own definition as a term. This term is defined as a permanent feeling of higher quality of life achieved through performing physical and mental activities and internal acceptance of the healthy lifestyle. The goal of this dissertation is a demand survey for these services, it specifically concerns the research of public awareness in this sphere, finding the attitude to activities, which are connected with wellness and acquiring next information which is principal for development in successful business activities, particularly for the strategic decision in pricing policy, the equipment in wellness premises and the quality provided services. In the dissertation were assumed three basic hypotheses: 1. On the basis of research there will be possible to put a qualified customer group and to determine chosen activities. They are suitable as a content of offered programmes for clients who are informed of this sphere or seek to achieve outlined goals. 2. Customers with interest and knowledge of the sphere will be interested in the healthy nutrition, the consumption of dietary supplements and in next activities concerning wellness. 3. Next assumption is a fact that the level of knowledge and understanding the whole conception will be at a lower level in the public. The theoretical part of the dissertation is based on the classical microeconomic theory. The attention is mainly paid to the theory of consumer optimum. Subsequently the dissertation focuses on the issue of marketing research, particularly on the analysis of appropriate quantitative methods which could and should be used in the application part. Great emphasis is placed on the communication policy which is a very important tool for the marketing mix. The application part of the dissertation focuses on its own demand research within that over nineteen thousand data from more than three hundred respondents were obtained. The results were presented after analyzing the obtained data. They showed that all age groups of respondents included in the population survey have within their categories very different features. Thanks to that fact popular sports have been identified, it was possible to determine a client's price concept about services suitable for this sphere and to describe an opinion on the quality and the equipment of wellness premises. Next, for purposes of comparison, two researches from abroad were used and these have become a valuable source of information and serve as a basis for comparative research i.e. comparison of foreign experience with the situation on the Czech market. Both differences and facts generally applicable in the Czech Republic and abroad were found. The result of the investigation was not only the recommendation for following research directions, particularly the need to do research in specialized wellness premises among informed customers with regard to data which were not possible to find out during the overall market research. Another task resulted from the finding that the respondents have very little awareness of the sphere and it will be necessary to establish the wellness programme conception and to introduce this concept to the public particularly by focusing on high schools oriented on physical education and sport and other public institutions. There is a fact that the Czech institutions in the health sector do not consider the prevention in the field of diseases of civilization important enough. It will be necessary to carry out next education of the public in order to achieve savings in the treatment of diseases of civilization in the Czech health care in the future. At the end of the dissertation it is stated that the goals and tasks were fulfilled despite difficulties in obtaining foreign materials and information suitable for comparison with the market in the Czech Republic. In the introduction the presented hypotheses were mostly confirmed, excluding the customer's price concept. It could not be determine intended consumer optimum because of significant heterogeneity of statistical results. In any case the dissertation showed the low level of public awareness of the concept wellness (as expected), the necessity of more distinctive defining of mental activities suitable for this field and the need to unite different opinions on the whole sphere of these services.

L’amélioration de l’accès aux soins de santé de la population est aujourd’hui au coeur des politiques de réduction de la pauvreté. Dans ce contexte, de plus en plus de pays en Afrique subsaharienne (ASS) adoptent des politiques de suppression des paiements directs des soins au point de service. Ces politiques ont pour objectifs d’augmenter la demande de soins en levant une partie de la barrière financière à l’accès aux soins et diminuer le fardeau financier de la maladie qui contribue aux dépenses catastrophiques. Avec l’urbanisation massive constatée dans le monde et en particulier dans les pays d’ASS, la prise en charge de la santé de la population en milieu péri-urbain est devenue plus complexe. L’augmentation de la charge de morbidité lié aux maladies chroniques, plus celle des maladies transmissibles toujours importante, rend plus difficile la maîtrise de la situation sanitaire de ces pays. Les enjeux posés par ces changement sont conduit à un regain d’intérêt sur les questions d’accès aux soins et de dépenses de santé des ménages en milieu urbain.Cette thèse, à partir de données recueillies sur le terrain, s’intéresse à la demande de soins et aux dépenses de santé des individus en milieu péri-urbain. Le chapitre I est consacré à la présentation du cadre théorique de l’analyse de la demande de soins et des spécificités de ce marché et à la présentation du Sénégal. Le chapitre II présente la méthodologie de recueil de données et une analyse détaillée des types de maladie identifiés, l’itinéraire thérapeutique des malades et leurs dépenses de soins. Le chapitre III porte sur l’analyse du comportement de la demande de soins lié aux symptômes aigus déclarés par les individus. L’analyse est effectuée à partir de l’estimation d’un probit multinomial. Le chapitre IV analyse les déterminants des dépenses de santé des individus avec un modèle de Heckman. / Improving population’s access to health care services stands among the utmost priorities in the’agenda of alleviating poverty in Africa. Recently, many policymakers in sub Saharan African countries have tried to remove users fees at the point of service This policy aims at easing the financial burden of out of pocket paiements in an episode of illness,which can be catastrophic,hence boosting the demand for healthcare services. Delivering adequate healthcare services in urban suburbs has become increasingly difficult with the massive urbanization trend, particularlyin Sub Saharan Africa. In addition, difficulties in improving health conditions are intensified by the rise in the morbidity, due to chronic and communicable diseases. Combined together, these phenomenons have brought to the forefront the relevance of the issues relative to healthcare delivery, access and financing in urban areas.Building upon survey data, this thesis focuses on individual’s demand of healthcare services and their corresponding health expenditure in urban suburbs of Senegal. Chapter I lays the theoretical foundations of healthcare services demand and its specific features; and presents the Senegalese context. The methodology relative to data collection and data analysis, including the identified diseases, their course of treatment and the associated health expenditures are detailed in Chapter II. Using a multinomial probit model, Chapter III analyzes the demand of healthcare services resulting from individual’s statement of acute symptoms. Finally, Chapter IV assesses the determinants of health expenditure, using the Heckman model.

The main of objective of this diploma thesis is to define health care as economic goods based on the theoretical definitions. The fact whether health care should be considered as private goods or public goods plays a vital role in this debate. The initial hypothesis presupposes that health care is (based on the basic economic criteria) private goods; however there is objective evidence demonstrating that health care should be understood in terms of public goods. The author defines the necessary terminology and theoretical concepts. According to several expert concepts the author concludes that based on the basic economic definitions health care could be understood as private goods, admitting that in the real world objective limitations exist, which prevent keeping health care exclusively in the economic sphere. The thesis also evaluates the role of individual health care sectors, including their drawbacks. The author demonstrates all concepts on the Czech health care system. In the analytic part of the thesis the author demonstrates discrepancies between theoretical concepts and practice on specific models, including the risks of exclusively private financing of health care. For this purpose three income groups has been defined. The author compares expenditures of these groups on selected medical services with different levels of their savings. The thesis also deals with methods of economical analysis and its limitations in health care system analysis.