Europe tackles health inequality reduction strategies

GLASGOW, Scotland – Around 1,400 experts from all over Europe have gathered here for the 7th European Public Health Conference to discuss possible strategies that will reduce inequalities in health and healthcare in the continent.

Conference chair Alastair Leyland noted that it is important to address inequalities in public health among the population as a whole.

“We don’t leave anyone behind. In all groups, there should be equality, we should reduce inequality,” he said during the formal opening ceremony on Thursday.

Leyland cited that inequality in Europe could be best reflected in the situation in Glasgow where there is a 14-year difference in the life expectancy of people living “over a distance of just eight kilometers.”

He explained that inequality was caused by “deprivation” as Glasgow “stands out” with 64 percent of its population living in the most deprived areas of Scotland.

According to Johan Mackenbach, chair of the Department of Public Health at Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam in the Netherlands, some countries in Europe – particularly England, Norway and Finland – have serious efforts to reduce inequality.

Of these three countries, England posted a narrowing of inequality as reflected on mortality rates and this is due to its anti-smoking programs that started some two decades ago, much earlier than in other countries in Europe.

Another aspect discussed heavily during the conference is the health inequality in the migrant and ethnic minority populations, one of the most deprived sectors in society.

During the conference, a research group from Scottish University, voluntary organizations and the National Health Service (NHS) for Scotland launched a plan to study the health of these populations.

Andrew Millard, equalities intelligence manager at the NHS Scotland, said there is a need to strengthen the information system for the migrants and ethnic minority “to know whether we are improving or not” on the health programs for them.

“We have to have the data to monitor, to find out what happened to them… which areas to look at to know the variation both in people’s health status and access to health services and in the benefits they get from health services,” he said.

He also noted that having part of a population left behind is a “problem for everybody” because it affects society in general.

“The level of trust in a society tends to be related to the levels of equality… Because the more people trust each other, the higher the people’s wellbeing will be,” he said.

The four-day conference was organized by the European Public Health Conference Foundation established at the initiative of the European Public Health Association.