The Initiative
The WHO European Health Equity Status Report initiative (HESRi) is being developed as a mechanism to promote and support policy action and commitment for health equity and well-being in the European Region. Specifically, the HESRi aims to shift political and policy focus from describing the problem to capturing progress and enabling action to increase equity in health.
The European Region has a long history and tradition of universal policies, welfare and rights-based approaches to health and to the conditions needed to live a healthy life. Over the last 2 decades, there have been significant shifts in policy approaches and commitments that increase the risk of population health inequity. However, there are new technical and political opportunities that are supporting efforts to move forward on equity in health and in life opportunities.
The HESRi captures lessons learned and examples of promising practice. It aims to demonstrate how country-specific and multi-country alliances are safeguarding against inequity, working to increase equity in health, and working to improve the conditions needed by all people to be able to live a healthy life. Illustrative case examples are used to demonstrate how countries are:
- overcoming challenges related to disinvestment in policies and approaches that impact on health equity;
- maximizing new opportunities for increasing equity in health.
Objectives
The aims of the HESRi are to:
- set a baseline for monitoring health equity status and health equity policy progress within WHO European Region Member States;
- set an agenda for scaling up and enabling action on health equity within countries and across communities of practice in the European Region;
- scale up mainstreaming of equity into WHO policies and programmes in line with Health 2020, the WHO 13th Global Programme of Work and the Regional Road Map for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals.
Who is the HESRi for?
The HESRi is aimed primarily at national and European Region policy-makers, local governments and third sector organizations. The analysis and findings from the HESRi (i.e. the health equity dataset and policy baseline) will support countries and partners to take action to:
- strengthen the equity impact of health sector policies and services
- increase the impact of cross-sectoral policies for health equity
- improve governance to better tackle the roots of exclusion, stigma and discrimination
- build alliances and advocate for better investments for healthier lives for all.
