Structural Funds & Health Gains - 3 workshops - registration open

Entry free - expenses for travel and accommodation can be provided



A post for those of you working in the European Union - but of interest to all

EU Structural Funds (SF) represent almost € 50 billion a year to support the development of poorer regions across Europe. This investment source is made available to improve the infrastructure and socio-economic profile of a region. There are opportunities to use these funds innovatively and to tackle inequalities, target pockets of poverty and assist vulnerable groups. The key challenge is how to make the most of these funding opportunities, ensuring that each Euro contributes towards better health and wellbeing.

A site is being developed that presents a range of resources (case studies, causal pathways etc) to assist this process.

There are three workshops in June. Entry is free and there is assitance with travel and expenses

Register now for the workshops on Structural Funds & Health Gains http://bit.ly/lLthw8 

OiRA: Online interactive Risk Assessment, a free web application to assess workplace risks

Developed by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, OiRA – Online interactive Risk Assessment – is an easy-to-use and cost-free web application that can help micro and small organisations to put in place a step-by-step risk assessment process – starting with the identification and evaluation of workplace risks, through to the decision making and implementation of preventative actions, to monitoring and reporting.

The development of an OiRA tool consists of 3 steps:
• Step 1: Preparation and development of an OiRA tool
A good project plan drawn up together with the relevant parties (trade associations, trade unions, national authorities, etc.) will help in the development of the OiRA tool.
• Step 2: Implementation of an OiRA tool
A correct implementation of the OiRA tool will ensure that it will be used by employers/employees and applied on the shop floor.
• Step 3: Maintenance and updating of an OiRA tool
An OiRA tool has to be maintained and updated periodically.

Find out more here: http://www.oiraproject.eu/#mainContent#title

Social Determinants and the Health Divide in the WHO European Region

Interesting conceptual model linking policies and practices to social determinants of health (Pages 13 and 11).

My take home paragraph is (Pages 21-22):

"A human rights–based approach to health equity is needed Oldring & Jerbi (66) discussed human rights and health.

Today there is growing recognition of the links between health and a wide range of human rights, as well as a growing appreciation of the right to the highest attainable standard of health itself. There is broad agreement that health policies, programmes and practices can have a direct bearing on the enjoyment of human rights, while a lack of respect for human rights can have  serious health consequences. Protecting human rights is recognized as key to protecting public health.

The right to health means that governments must generate conditions in which everyone can be as healthy as possible. A human rights–based approach to health gives importance not only to goals and outcomes but also to the processes in trying to achieve these goals and outcomes. Health policy-making should be guided by human rights standards and aim at developing the capacity of those in positions of responsibility – for policy-making and delivery – to meet their obligations and empower rights-holders (the public) to effectively claim their rights.

Eliminating all forms of discrimination is at the core of a human rights–based approach, with a particular focus on gender equity in all policies. Human rights standards and principles, such as participation, equality, non-discrimination, transparency and accountability, should be integrated into all stages of policy-making and implementation.

The human rights principles and efforts to improve  health equity should be mutually reinforcing. The right to health complements the health equity concept by aiming for everyone to enjoy his or her full health potential. Moreover, the human rights principles of nondiscrimination and equality strengthen the conceptual foundation of health equity for the groups in society for whom inequities in health are related to wider vulnerability. "

Click here to download the 2nd Interim Report - Interim second report on social determinants of 
health and the health divide in the WHO European Region, WHO, 2011.


Click here to download the 1st Interim Report - Interim first report on social determinants of health and the health divide in the Regional Office for Europe WHO European Region

WHO Interactive Atlases on Health Equity in Europe

Click here to go to the WHO website.

One of the goals of the project is to improve availability of and access to evidence on inequalities in health system performance, including quality of care and the structural determinants of such inequalities across countries and regions in Europe.

To meet this goal, publicly available socioeconomic and health-related indicators from EUROSTAT databases have been used to produce the atlases. The NUTS 2 regions are the main geographical units of analysis. Variables displayed in maps, graphs and tables represent more than 600 individual indicators.

The atlases aim not only to provide more visibility to the sub-national patterns of health and their determinants but also to analyse how such an integrated information system and its underlying data can inform policy across European countries. 

The added value is to: 

• improve insight into the regional dimension of social inequalities in health across counties; 
• provide a tool for increased engagement of the public and the media in the dialogue with the competent authorities on health policy and action; and 
• provide a pilot for a more regular monitoring and assessment of the magnitude of social inequalities in health and the impact of the relevant policies, interventions and services.

To analyse and display data, following interactive atlases have been developed in the project:

1. Correlation map atlas allows a quick visualization of two variables in maps and their association in a graph, where correlation analysis can also be performed. You may use the filter function to select only one country or country group.
2. Atlases of social inequalities allow visualization of difference between the target value and the value in a region or group of regions. The target value is the population weighted average of the most advantaged quintile of the population. Differences between the target and the individual region are visualized as absolute differences (area target differences) and as relative differences (area target ratios).
3. Regional comparison atlas allows quick comparison of several key indicators between a limited numbers of regions. Please use the Ctrl key and mouse to select the regions of interest.

Hat tip: David McDaid via the JISC Health Equity Network