Bileog eolais faoin tuairim 

Health inequalities in the European Union

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Opinion Number: CDR 7114/2013
Rapporteur: HANNIFFY Constance
Commission: NAT
Status: Adopted
Date: 31/01/2014
 
• emphasises that inequalities in health cannot be reduced by the health sector alone, they require action by all those whose work promotes health and wellbeing through integrated and coordinated whole-of-governance plans, the Health in All Policies Approach (HiAP) and through the wider engagement of society;
• underlines that political and organisational leadership committed to strategically addressing health inequalities is a prerequisite to help drive and implement this;
• underlines that regional and local authorities play key roles in the provision of public health services, in health promotion and disease prevention; equally, policies such as employment, housing, transport, planning, environment and public safety are some other functions of local and regional authorities ensuring that they are key actors in reducing health inequalities;
• highlights the importance of active community organisations that are best placed both to understand the needs of vulnerable groups locally and to get most beneficial engagement in programmes;
• stresses that facilitating the engagement of local and regional health systems and authorities is critical in all phases of the European Structural and Investment Funds programming cycle to ensure that health improvements receive appropriate prioritisation,
• encourages uptake of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) facility by authorities and bodies in developing partnerships to facilitate cross-border projects to reduce health inequalities, for instance with respect to infrastructure and access to state-of-the-art medical equipment;
• welcomes wider EU initiatives to assist authorities within Member States to develop sustainable and effective health systems in particular by investing in preventive healthcare so as to reduce future longer-term costs and to restructure healthcare systems to provide equitable access to high-quality healthcare;
• urges all authorities to continue working towards standardised European Core Health Indicators (ECHI), which should be developed in close consultation with local and regional representatives;
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS



- emphasises that inequalities in health cannot be reduced by the health sector alone, they require action by all those whose work promotes health and wellbeing through integrated and coordinated whole-of-governance plans, the Health in All Policies Approach (HiAP) and through the wider engagement of society;

- underlines that political and organisational leadership committed to strategically addressing health inequalities is a prerequisite to help drive and implement this;

- underlines that regional and local authorities play key roles in the provision of public health services, in health promotion and disease prevention; equally, policies such as employment, housing, transport, planning, environment and public safety are some other functions of local and regional authorities ensuring that they are key actors in reducing health inequalities;

- highlights the importance of active community organisations that are best placed both to understand the needs of vulnerable groups locally and to get most beneficial engagement in programmes;

- stresses that facilitating the engagement of local and regional health systems and authorities is critical in all phases of the European Structural and Investment Funds programming cycle to ensure that health improvements receive appropriate prioritisation,

- encourages uptake of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) facility by authorities and bodies in developing partnerships to facilitate cross-border projects to reduce health inequalities, for instance with respect to infrastructure and access to state-of-the-art medical equipment;

- welcomes wider EU initiatives to assist authorities within Member States to develop sustainable and effective health systems in particular by investing in preventive healthcare so as to reduce future longer-term costs and to restructure healthcare systems to provide equitable access to high-quality healthcare;

- urges all authorities to continue working towards standardised European Core Health Indicators (ECHI), which should be developed in close consultation with local and regional representatives;

Importance

High
Medium
Low
 

Rapporteur's activities

Rapporteur participating at the Health Inequalities Conference. Rapporteur was keynote speaker in session II. Commissioner Borg, WHO Europe Director Jakab, Sir Michael Marmot and the Greek Presidency open the event.

 
22 Nov
 

European Commission

Meeting of the Expert Group on Social Determinants and Health Inequalities in Luxembourg

 
21 Oct
 

European Presidency

Rome Conference on Health inequalities and vulnerability:Capacity Building andinterventions among EU Member States

 
19 Oct
 

European Parliament

The Commissioner-designate Vitalis Andriukaitis pledges in front of the Parliament: "I will seek to ensure that every initiative on health contributes to bridging the wide inequalities in health that persist in Europe."

 
29 Sep
 

Rapporteur's activities

Rapporteur speaks at the workshop on health inequalities in cancer paediatric care, organised in the EP and chaired by Linda McAvan (UK/S&D).

 
17 Feb
 

CoR Commission activity

The CoR adopted the opinion at the Plenary session.

 
30 Jan
 

CoR Commission activity

The NAT commission adopted the opinion.

 
11 Dec
 

CoR Stakeholder Consultation

Stakeholder consultation Regional offices in Brussels and a number of hand-picked NGOs were invited to comment on the Rapporteur's thoughts and share their ideas and concerns regarding health inequalities in the EU.

 
06 Nov
 

Rapporteur's activities

Phone interview with Charles Prices, Team Leader for Social and Environmental Health Determinants at the DG SANCO. This conversation enabled the Rapporteur to get a better sense of the Commission's vision for the report and discuss key statistics and observations in greater detail.

 
06 Nov
 

CoR Commission activity

 
 

The NAT commission appointed Ms Constance Hannify (IE/EPP) as rapporteur for the opinion on Inequalities in health in the EU.

 
30 Sep
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