Webinar: Comprehensive approaches to address the root causes of health inequalities at the local level
EuroHealthNet and EUPHA are organising a workshop as part of this year’s European Public Health Week (12-16 May), which has as an overarching theme ‘Innovation for Resilience. Shaping a Sustainable Future.‘
The workshop, on Thursday 15 May 2025 10:00 – 11:00 CEST, will kick off the thematic day on “Health Equity and the Social Determinants of Health’’.
Background of the webinar
High levels of social inequity and associated health inequalities affect everyone and destabilise societies. Health inequalities are caused by unequal access to resources and opportunities, such as income, education, healthcare, and living conditions, that influence people’s health. They are often driven by social, economic, and environmental factors, and cannot be addressed by the health sector or through lifestyle and behavioural interventions alone.
Comprehensive local-level monitoring and actions are crucial to reducing health inequalities because they can be tailored to meet the specific needs, contexts and challenges faced by communities. Local action can strengthen access to resources, provide opportunities and create healthy living environments for everyone. Local authorities and actors are better placed to assess, reach and engage citizens and coordinate services across sectors.
There are important considerations when it comes to monitoring, designing, implementing and evaluating local-level strategies and actions to improve health and reduce health inequalities. How, for example, can citizens be engaged in efforts to investigate, protect and promote their own interests? What structures and mechanisms can be put in place to ensure effective cross-sectoral actions to reduce health inequalities, and what can be done to ensure that measures taken do not benefit residents who are already better off, more, thereby widening health inequalities?
This session will explore these and other issues and questions on the theme of comprehensive local-level actions to address the root causes of health inequalities and showcase promising practice across the EU.
Agenda
10:00 -10:05: Opening the kick-off webinar of the day
- Caroline Costongs, Director EuroHealthNet
- Charlotte Marchandise, Executive Director EUPHA
10:05-10:20: Keynote by Professor Jennie Popay, Co-Director of the Centre for Health Inequalities: Measures needed for effective action at the local level to reduce health inequalities (.ppt)
10:20-10:30: Prof. Eric Breton, EHESP, France, Chair EUPHA Health Promotion Section: What do we know about the mechanisms generating health inequalities?
10:30-10:40: Ingrid Stegeman, Programme Manager EuroHealthNet: Some EU policies and programmes that can contribute to the reduction of health inequalities at the local level (.ppt).
10:40-10:50: Dr Mark Francis, Lead researcher, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare and health inequalities coordinator of the Joint Action PreventNCDs: Monitoring Health Inequalities: What can the JA PreventNCD offer?
10:50-11:00: Discussions/ Q&A
Practicalities
Date: Thursday, 15 May
Time: 10:00 – 11:00 CEST
Register here.
