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National Level Policies

The National Level Policies section of the portal provides an overview of
the actual situation concerning actions to tackle health inequalities in the
different European countries.

This part of the portal is currently being developed, the information for the remaining countries will continuously be completed.

In addition to the national level portraits of the individual countries the
overview analysis has been conducted and its initial results have been
published in EuroHealth magazine (EuroHealth, 11:2 p.24).

Download the final 'Closing the Gap' publication: Taking Action on Health Equity.

This publication contains summaries of what each of the 21 ´Closing the Gap´ partners are doing to address health inequalities in their countries, as well as the conclusions and recommendations of this 3-year initiative.

Results of the same country

List all good practice projects of the actual country.

You are here: > National Level Policies > Overview > Regional/local Policies

Policies at the regional/local Level

Figure 8: Development of health inequalities policies at regional level.

14 countries provided examples of regional policy documents directly or indirectly- addressing health inequalities.  
In Poland, the ‘Mazovian Health Promotion Programme’ advocates for effective system of partnership-based co-operation and building up of alliances for reducing health inequalities.
In France, all the Regional Public Health Plans (PRSP) provided for under the Public Health Law of August 2004 should include a Programme for Access to Prevention and Care (PRAPS) for the most underprivileged individuals. This is for example the case of the ‘Regional programme for access to prevention and care in the Limousin region’. 2003-2006

Only Spain indicated having defined specific regional targets.
Although no quantitative targets have been defined at the national level, the Health Policy of the Basque country has defined specific goals, such as: ‘Reducing the social differences in mortality from diseases of the circulatory system by 25% in males under 65 years.

11 countries mentioned that their government provides technical support to regions for the development and implementation of health inequalities policies. The type of supports varies a lot, and can be expressed in terms of:

• Finance and manpower In the Netherlands for example, in order to work on the metropolitan area policy, which includes work on health inequalities, the government has supplied € 25 million for the period of 2005-2009 for 30 major cities.
• Technical support and guidance In England, while the national government sets the policy frame and targets, actors at the regional level have a degree of autonomy for the implementation (adapted to the local context) of policies. Support and guidance has notably been provided by the government in developing ‘Local Delivery Plans, using Health Equity Audits, Local Basket of Health Inequalities Indicators, and Creating Healthier Communities’.
• Informal basis.

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