in fact four times as many men as women died in road traffic accidents in although a series of tobacco control policies contributed to a reduction in smoking rates among adolescents and adults in latvia over the past decade the smoking rates among adults nonetheless remain higher than in most other eu countries particularly among men and people with lower levels of education spending on prevention represents only of current health spending in latvia compared to the eu average of investment in public health and prevention in latvia is also heavily reliant on funding from the eu and the international community more broadly for example thrombolysis for ischaemic stroke is excluded from the benefit package tunning against clinical evidence on international best practice