Poland

Country profile

The Republic of Poland is a country located in Central Europe with a population of over 38 million people making it the sixth most populous member of the European Union (EU). Poland’s current constitution dates from 1997. The President is elected by popular vote for a five-year term. The 460 members of the lower house of parliament (the Sejm) and the 100 members of the senate, are directly elected by a system of proportional representation to serve four-year terms. Poland's high-income economy is considered to be one of the healthiest of the post-Communist countries and is currently one of the fastest growing within the EU.

Poland became a member of the EU in 2004.

Policy responses

An overview of policy responses addressing health inequalities in can be found in our Policy Database.

Good practices

The issue of health inequalities is gaining importance in Poland. Many of the policy responses that address the issue do so implicitly. Cross-sectoral collaboration is on the increase, with an intersectoral committee being recently established to implement a health in all policies approach.

An overview of projects and initiatives that are currently taking place or that have successfully been finalized, and that are addressing health inequality issues, can be found in our Good Practice Database.

Key actors

Please find below an overview of key actors in Poland working on health inequality issues:

• Ministry of Health
  

• Ministry of Labour and Social Policy
  

• Narodowy Instytut Zdrowia Publicznego - Panstwowy Zaktad Higieny – National Institute of Public Health & National Institute of Hygiene
   

Are you aware of any other key actors that should be added to this list? 
Please let us know!

Key resources

Please find below an overview of relevant documents addressing health inequality issues in Poland. Further publications can be found in our Publications Database.

• National Strategy report on social protection and social inclusion 2008 - 2010

• Health situation in the Polish population (2008): Report by the National Institute of Public Health - National Institute of Hygiene, which describes areas of disparities in health in relation to education, gender.
   

Are you aware of any other key resources that should be added to this list?
Please let us know!