RHN 18th annual conference. Reducing inequalities from a regional perspective: what works, what doesn’t work?

8-9 November 2010, Genk, Belgium

The Regions for Health Network (RHN) held their annual conference and general assembly in Genk, Belgium, 8–9 November 2010. Both events were hosted by the member region of the Flemish Community. The host wanted to provide the RHN members with a unique experience by combining the 18th RHN Annual Conference with a two-day international conference organized by the Flemish Authorities for the Belgian Presidency of the European Union. Thus the conference topic was explored through a specific focus on both international and regional arenas.

The topic of the conference was "Reducing health inequalities from a regional perspective – what works, what does not?". It intended to examine the efficiency of policy measures and initiatives aiming at the elimination or reduction of health inequalities. Practical experiences and field actions were analysed, and research outcomes were evaluated in the light of how best they could be translated in policy development, especially at the sub-national level.

The first day of the event focused on the international context of health inequalities, while the morning of the second day was dedicated to an "all hands on deck" approach to health inequalities: during some workshops, examples of promising practices were presented for addressing health inequalities among specific target groups.

The RHN General Assembly was a special event organized this year to bring regions together to share experiences in reducing health inequalities and developing approaches to the social determinants of health. There was a session dedicated to exploring RHN's potential as a stakeholder platform for Health 2020 policy framework development and ten areas of regional know-how were identified.