http://www.health-inequalities.eu

NEW! Equity Action newsletter

http://www.health-inequalities.eu — 22/03/2012

New! Equity Action newsletter

The first edition of the Equity Action Newsletter is now out. Equity Action is a joint action involving 16 Member States across Europe. This edition of the newsletter focusses on work to support the development of tools for policy makers - helping them to test their impact on the Social Determinants of Health.

You can access the newsletter here. Click here to directly subscribe to the newsletter. More information about the Equity Action is available here.

Evaluating and implementing actions for health equity among children and their families

http://www.health-inequalities.eu — 17/02/2012

Evaluating and implementing actions for health equity among children and their families

How can public policies effectively reduce health inequalities among children? EuroHealthNet, together with the University of Brighton and other partners, has published the Gradient Evaluation Framework (GEF), which provides a practical support for the evaluation of policy actions for their potential to achieve health equity of children and their families.

There is an urgent need to find new ways to evaluate the health and equity impact of policies. In response to this, the Gradient Evaluation Framework (GEF) has been developed and published as part of the GRADIENT project.

GEF is a European action-oriented policy tool that provides a framework for the evaluation and implementation of policy-actions at each stage of the policy cycle. It includes a set of principles, procedures and mechanisms that can be applied to a wide range of policies, including:

Public health policies that comprise of a complex mix of actions, including programmes
Specific health policy actions (e.g. nutrition programmes in schools)
Non-health policies that have a potential to impact on the social determinants of health inequalities (e.g. education, employment, and agriculture sectors)

GEF can be used on any policy, action, programme, intervention or project that either affects, or is intended to affect, the health equity of a given population.

GEF represents a valuable instrument for experts with knowledge or interest in public health and equity, such as policy-advisors, decision-makers, researchers, evaluators, practitioners and others, working locally, nationally, or at European level.

GEF is a key output from the GRADIENT Project which has been funded between 2009-2012, by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The Project is a research collaboration involving 12 institutions. The focus of the project is on children, young people and their families since the greatest impact on reducing the gradient in health inequalities can be achieved through effective early life policy interventions and by creating equal opportunities during childhood and adolescence. GEF has been developed by the University of Brighton and other partners of the GRADIENT project.

• To access the Gradient Evaluation Framework (GEF) and its summary, click here
• For more information about Gradient, click here or contact Giorgio Barbareschi

9th European IUHPE Conference on Health Promotion

http://www.health-inequalities.eu — 6/02/2012

9th European IUHPE Conference on Health Promotion "Health and Quality of Life"

The IUHPE’s European Conference on the 27-29 September 2012 at Tallinn, Estonia is the 9th conference with several prominent speakers from across Europe elsewhere.

There has been a high level of interest in the IUHPE's conferences and we have the opportunity to highlight the latest innovations in health promotion development internationally. This year the conference will focus considerable attention on the impact of recent economic changes on population health, and address the issues of stimulating health promotion interventions and investment.

The Registration and Call for Abstracts are now open through conference web-site:

www.conferences.ee/iuheli2012

The Early Bird registration fee is valid until 29th February 2012.
Abstracts (paper or poster presentations) submission's deadline is 1st April 2012.
If you have any questions regarding the conference, please contact Conference Secretariat at:

iuhpe2012@conference-expert.com or +372 6 108 636

EuroHealthNet launches its website on Healthy Ageing

http://www.health-inequalities.eu — 24/01/2012

Launch of the Website on Healthy Ageing

EuroHealthNet supports the 2012 European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. Today, in this context, EuroHealthNet launches its new website: www.healthyageing.eu.

This website is dedicated to raising awareness of healthy ageing within the context of the EY 2012, especially the important role health promotion plays, in contributing to a healthier, more active EU population for the future. The new website will highlight key factors such as, promoting healthy diets, physical activities, social relations and meaningful activities necessary for ageing healthily throughout a person’s life. It will showcase a number of local, regional and national projects dedicated to promoting older peoples health while also identifying a number of EU policy initiatives and instruments that are available to promote healthy ageing.

In addition EuroHealthNet, commissioned by the Federal Centre for Health Education - in Germany - has published a new report on healthy and active ageing. The report highlights a selection of programmes, good practices and other resources for promoting and sustaining the well-being of “younger” older people, with a specific reference to socially deprived and migrant groups. The new report can be downloaded here.

Healthy ageing is the process of optimising opportunities for physical, social and mental health to enable older people to take an active part in society without discrimination and to enjoy an independent and good quality of life. It requires a multi-facetted approach, with many different aspects of across the life course playing a role.
For Caroline Costongs - EuroHealthNet Deputy-Director - “EuroHealthNet is keen to develop partnerships with those who are interested in evidence-based health promotion policy and practice to achieve healthy ageing for all. Please visit us at our new Website!”

• To access Healthy Ageing Website, click here
• To access the Healthy and Active Ageing report, click here or contact John Considine
• To access EuroHealtNet position on pensions, click here
• To access the 2012 European Year on active ageing and solidarity between generations website, click here
• To access the European Commission survey on active ageing, click here

EVENT: Together Towards Social Sustainability - Action plan for Health equity in Vastra Gotaland (Sweden)

http://www.health-inequalities.eu — 30/11/2011

On the 3rd of February a workshop conference will be organised in Gothenburg (Sweden):

Together Towards Social Sustainability - Action plan for Health equity in Västra Götaland

Description of the event:
We know what inequalities in health looks like. But what can we actually do to reduce them? There is a need to identify those substantial and concrete actions which, according to current knowledge, would be likely to have an impact on inequalities in health. We strongly believe that such a process of identification, political decisions and implementation have to be a joint commitment among many societal actors to be successful.

The workshop will be the starting point to form an action plan for Health Equity in Västra Götaland. The following three areas will be focused on:

Safe and satisfactory growing-up conditions
Increased participation in working life
Ageing with quality of life

Target group
Politicians, practitioners, civil servants, NGO's and researchers.

Invitation and program
The conference is free of charge. Registration will start at 9 am and the conference will end at 15 pm. Simultaneous translation will be provided between Swedish and English.
An invitation, including a detailed program and registration form will be available soon.

For more information please contact: lars.paulsson@vgregion.se

Estimating the economic burden of alcohol in Slovenia

http://www.health-inequalities.eu — 23/11/2011

Estimating the economic burden of alcohol in Slovenia

Over 30 Slovenian experts participated in a two-day capacity-building workshop in Ljubljana, in October 2011, to estimate the economic burden of alcohol drinking in their country. Alcohol consumption in Slovenia is relatively high – above the average for countries in the European Union – and an understanding the economic burden of alcohol-related diseases is needed to advocate relevant anti-alcohol policy in the country. The Ministry of Health of Slovenia is committed to strengthen efforts to decrease the high average consumption of alcohol.

Income levels and alcohol consumption in Slovenia are clearly linked. People who live in municipalities with the lowest income-tax base per capita have greater risks of premature death from both causes wholly attributable to alcohol (2.5 times greater for men and 2.8 times greater for women) and liver cirrhosis (3.1 times for men and 4.5 times for women). In addition, drinking habits show a significant gender difference: both heavy drinking and episodic heavy drinking are five times more likely among men.

The workshop was part of activities agreed in the biennial collaborative agreement for 2010–2011 between WHO and the Ministry of Health of Slovenia.

Alcohol-related disease burden

Europe not only plays a significant role in alcohol production, trade and consumption but also carries a heavy social and economic burden of related problems. Alcohol consumption is estimated to be responsible for about 10% of the total disease burden, increasing the risk of health problems such as liver cirrhosis, certain types of cancer, high blood pressure, stroke and congenital conditions. Drinking also increases the risk of many social problems, such as family disintegration, absenteeism, poor productivity, financial hardships, unintentional injuries, traffic accidents, criminal behaviour and violence, including homicide and suicide.

Source: WHO Europe

Launch of the UCL Institute of Health Equity

http://www.health-inequalities.eu — 21/11/2011

Launch of the UCL Institute of Health Equity

Today, on the 21st of November, the new UCL Institute of Health Equity has been launched. The Institute will build on previous work to tackle inequalities in health led by Professor Sir Michael Marmot and his team, including the ‘Commission on Social Determinants of Health’ and ‘Fair Society Healthy Lives’ (The Marmot Review). Current work includes leadership of a review of Social Determinants of Health and the Health Divide for the WHO European Regional Office.

The new Institute will receive support from the Department of Health, UCL and the BMA. It will seek to increase health equity through action on the social determinants of health, specifically in four areas: by influencing global, national and local policies; by advising on and learning from practice; by building the evidence base, and; by developing capacity.

Visit the website for further information at: http://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/

First WHO European Conference on the New European Policy for Health - Health 2020

http://www.health-inequalities.eu — 31/10/2011

First WHO European Conference on the New European Policy for Health - Health 2020

Working together across sectors for health and well-being

Jerusalem, Israel, 28–29 November 2011

The First WHO European Conference on the New European Policy for Health, organized by WHO/Europe and hosted by Israel, is an important milestone in the development of the Health 2020 policy that the European Region plans to endorse formally in September 2012.

It has been recognized that most of the major public health challenges, including noncommunicable diseases and inequalities in health, cannot be addressed effectively without coordinated action across sectors at the global, European, national and local levels. One of the core aims of the new European policy for health – Health 2020 – is to promote and strengthen innovative ways of working across sector and agency boundaries for health and well-being. This also implies involving new stakeholders, actively exploring new means, and creating new partnerships while enriching existing ones.

The meeting aims to explore how a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach can further improve health and well-being, and to review and identify ways to establish or consolidate dialogue with critical stakeholders and all levels of government for Health 2020.

The meeting will bring together representatives from ministries of health and various sectors (experts or decision-makers), drawing on existing collaboration (such as environment, transport, education, social services or finance); advisers to prime ministers on health issues; parliamentarians (such as chairs of parliamentary health and social services committees); and regional representatives, mayors or senior government officials, and civil society. In addition to Member States, the meeting will also engage representatives from the European Commission and European Parliament and key international agencies.

Click here for further information.

Rio Political Declaration on Social Determinants of Health adopted

http://www.health-inequalities.eu — 26/10/2011

Rio Political Declaration on Social Determinants of Health adopted

On the last day of WHO’s World Conference on Social Determinants of Health, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 19–21 October 2011, the Rio Political Declaration on Social Determinants of Health got finalized and adopted.

Around 1200 people – including over 60 health ministers and representatives of United Nations partners and civil society – took part in the Conference, convened to build support action on the social determinants of health. During the opening, Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, recognized the role of civil society in advocating health and reduced health inequalities, noting that health inequities exist because “the wrong policies are in place”.

The Declaration expresses global political commitment to implement an approach that addresses the social determinants of health in order to reduce health inequities and achieve other global priorities. It will help to build momentum within WHO Member States to develop dedicated national strategies and action plans.

The Declaration resonates with and strengthens the process of developing a new European policy for health and well-being, Health 2020, by recognizing the vital importance of the social determinants of health and the needs:

• to reduce health inequities;
• to strengthen governance for health and development;
• to strengthen health systems to support the provision of equitable universal coverage of health care;
• to maintain and further expand public health capacity, including capacity for intersectoral action on the social determinants; and
• to work for equity through the inclusion of health in the policies of all sectors.

A press release by WHO can be found here.

The Declaration can be found here.

More information about the World Conference can be read here.

EU Polish Presidency conference: Solidarity in health � Closing the health gap between European Union States

http://www.health-inequalities.eu — 7/10/2011

EU Polish Presidency conference: Solidarity in health – Closing the health gap between European Union States

The conference aims to underline the relevance of health inequalities within the European Union. The meeting is one of the major initiatives being undertaken to fulfill the Health Minister’s priority in “Closing the health gap between EU Member States”.

The conference will bring together representatives from all the Member States and observers (Norway, Switzerland), as well as Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) and other countries encompassed by the European Neighbourhood Policy, signatories of the Warsaw Declaration (e.g. Turkey) and other potential signatories.

The meeting aims for the acceptance of the draft conclusion on closing the health gap between European societies and its subsequent adoption by the EU Council.

The following issues will be discussed during the conference: closing the health gap; the place of public health in health policies; the role of promotion, preventive treatments and education as an instrument necessary to shape pro-health attitudes from the earliest stages of human development; preventing respiratory diseases and speech problems experienced by children as a basis for closing health, social and economic gaps encountered at later development stages.

Further information here.

Equity Action: 14-15 November: Meeting of WP4 (tools) and WP5 (regions)

http://www.health-inequalities.eu — 7/10/2011

14-15 November: Meeting of WP4 (tools) and WP5 (regions)

This meeting is the first opportunity for both WP4 partners to come together and work on the 'Tools' work strand, and for the regional partners of WP5 to meet and discuss how the 'Regions' work stream will move forward and how this WP can be delivered.

WP4 (Tools): This work stream has the challenging task to develop tools and mechanisms that will emphasise the impact of policy on health equity, encourage a more systematic approach to their use and the way policymakers assess the impact of their actions.

During the meeting, both the role of health impact assessment with an equity focus and a health in all policies approach will be addressed. The aim will be to establish what this work package means for partners, recognising the different levels of knowledge and experience in the group, and to learn from practical examples, expert contributions and shared discussion using this learning to start planning individual projects

WP5 (Regions): This work stream is developing a regional network, capturing and sharing regional approaches to reduce health inequalities, and strengthening understanding on how to influence and use structural funds to reduce health inequalities.

During the meeting in London regional partners will discuss and agree on a Case Study Framework, which will help to identify how health inequalities are addressed at the regional/local level through policy and implementation, and how they relate to national and the next level down.Secondly, there will be a first introduction to Structural Funds, also in view of the preparation of national positions regarding the next Structural Funds Programme.

For further information about this meeting, please contact the Programme Coordinator Mark Gamsu.

World Conference on Social Determinants of Health

http://www.health-inequalities.eu — 7/10/2011

WHO World Conference on Social Determinants of Health

WHO is convening a global conference on 19-21 October 2011 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to build support for the implementation of action on social determinants of health. The conference will bring together Member States and stakeholders to share experiences on policies and strategies aiming to reduce health inequities. As of 5 October, 95 Member States have confirmed their attendance, and 53 delegations will be headed by Ministers of Health. Conference participants are also welcome to attend stakeholder events organized by ministries of health, WHO Regional Offices, UN partners and NGOs before and after the conference.

Further information here.