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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 > Belgium > Policies, strategies and other documents > Cross government

Cross government

Federal vs. Regional Level Policies:
The integration process of services in the welfare and health sector in Belgium, and particularly in Flanders, has been tackled in different ways and at different levels. Administrative reforms, the promotion of mergers and cooperative ventures, and decentralisation have been the most important procedures. The state reform of 1980 led to a reorganisation of health and welfare in Belgium. With this reform, policy competence for assistance to people was transferred to the Flemish and Walloon communities, so that the different forms of welfare and health care were decentralised. The social services were brought together in the Welfare, Public Health and Culture Department of the Ministry of the Flemish Community. From the 1980s, this ministerial department recognised and subsidised all of the welfare, some of the health services and carried out quality control. In 2005, the Flemish government created the Ministry for Welfare, Health and Family. The same happened in the Walloon region.

The major problem with this reform was that important parts of the responsibilities for healthcare policy remain at the federal level: the complete curative sector, the financing of the hospitals, the criteria for planning of medical facilities, the price of drugs, etc. Prevention, health promotion and mental health are the responsibility of the Flemish and Walloon communities. This led to a disruptive situation, were today, at least seven ministers at different levels have competences related to health policy. In an attempt to harmonise policies, there is a mechanism of inter-ministerial conferences, where representatives of the ministries at different levels are meeting to coordinate policies aimed at specific objectives. The Inter-Ministerial Conference for Social Integration (IMC) is a meeting of all the ministers who can take decisions concerning the reduction of poverty, including health and welfare policies (For more information, click here).