Berlin, 14 – 15 March 2019 – Congress Poverty and Health 2019
Congress Website: https://www.armut-und-gesundheit.de/
Within the Congress on Poverty and Health, JAHEE WP 6 (Healthy Living Environments) will organize a workshop entitled:
Health and Equity in all policies
Workshop Contact: Christina Plantz (christina.plantz@bzga.de)
Duration: 90 Minutes
Workshop Description: To achieve greater health equity, actions are needed across the life-course and in wider social and economic spheres. Much of the work to address social inequity and health inequities lies beyond the health sector. Strong commitment is needed from the top of governments on national, regional and local level, with active engagement of e.g. education, social protection and finance ministries. Health in all policies approaches are not sufficient to address the social determinants of health: what is needed is health equity in all policies. There is valid information on health, health inequalities and its determinants available, but the information is not automatically transformed to concrete policy actions and measures. Besides knowledge, policy implementation requires many other elements to be effective: political will and commitment, collaboration, resources and governance.
The workshop presents some current developments from the EU Joint Action Health Equity Europe (JAHEE) , and good practices from Wales and the City of Utrecht in the Netherlands, who are heading to achieve this goal.
There will be three contributions:
1 – Health and Equity in all Policies – Activities and good practices in the frame of the EU Joint Action Health Equity Europe
The EU Joint Action Health Equity Europe started in June 2018 and runs for 3 years. Public health authorities from 25 European countries participate. The objective of JAHEE is to improve health and well-being of European citizens and achieve greater equity in health outcomes across all groups in society. One of the five subject areas of JAHEE is “Health and Equity in all Policies – Governance”. Action across sectors has proven to be an effective way to address health issues by focusing on the social and environmental determinants of health.
This session gives an overview about plans of implementation of and Health Equity in all Policies approach in the participating European countries and the context of implementation in each country.
Tuulia Rotko, D.Soc.Sc., Development Manager
National Institute for Health and Welfare – THL, Finland
2 – The Future Generations Act in Wales – Experience with a regional Health in all Policies legislation
Background and development of the Future Generations Act in Wales, the impact the legislation is having, how it delivers the aspiration to have a Health in all Policies approach in Wales.
Catherine Weatherup
Strategic Lead, Health and Sustainability Hub, Policy, Research and International Development Directorate, Public Health Wales
3 – Healthy Urban Living – an integrated approach for healthy urban development in Utrecht
Although Utrecht is one of the healthiest (larger) cities in the Netherlands, it is the fastest growing city as well. And despite this healthy status, there are large differences in health between people. Within the fast growing number of citizens, how can we realize a healthy urban environment? How can a design of the urban living environment contribute to promoting citizens’ health and simultaneously reduce health inequalities? These challenges were reason to shift towards a so-called Utrecht’s Health in All Policy or Healthy Urban Living approach. Apparent in political leadership, such as a vice mayor lobbying for more stringent air pollution norms at the European Parliament, and health professionals, for example, working in interdisciplinary teams advising on spatial and infrastructure plans at a daily basis.
Miriam Weber PhD, Healthy City Coordinator, City of Utrecht, the Netherlands