European Commission DG SANCO is responsible for the implementation of EU laws on the safety of food and other products, on consumers' rights and on the protection of people's health. It has developed a specific web page on social determinants and health inequalities, which can be found here. Addressing health inequalities is a key action of the EU Health Strategy "Together for Health: A Strategic Approach for the EU (2008-2013)". In this document, equity in health is identified as a fundamental value. The EU Health Programme is the European Commission’s main instrument for implementing the EU Health Strategy. The programme aims, through the funding of projects and other actions, to improve the health and well-being of EU citizens and reduce health inequalities throughout the Community. The European Commission established in 2008 an Expert Working Group on Social Determinants and Health Inequalities. This group of experts - from countries inside and outside the EU, WHO, OECD and the Council of Europe – comes together twice a year to share information and good practices on health inequalities, and to provide input into policy development. A second group working on health issues is the EU Health Policy Forum. This forum brings together 52 umbrella organisations representing European stakeholders in the fields of public health and healthcare. Its function is to review the EU's work in various areas of public health and adopts recommendations; to respond to Commission consultations and assists in organising consultations; to enable exchange of views and experience on a wide range of topics; and to assist in implementation and follow-up of specific initiatives. In 2009 the European Commission published a joint Communication by DG SANCO and DG EMPL entitled: "Solidarity in Health: Reducing Health Inequalities in the EU". The Communication sets out the Commission's plans to address health inequalities. These include: - Collaboration with national authorities, regions and other bodies;
- Assessment of the impact of EU policies on health inequalities to ensure that they help reduce them where possible;
- Regular statistics and reporting on the size of inequalities in the EU and on successful strategies to reduce them;
- Better information on EU funding to help national authorities and other bodies address the inequalities.
The PROGRESS programme is the financial instrument managed by DG EMPL to support the development and coordination of EU policy in the areas of Employment; Social inclusion and social protection; Working conditions; Anti-discrimination; and Gender equality. The programme offers good entry points for work on the social determinants of health as it aims to build EU stakeholders’ capacity of providing policy recommendations on the social and employment agendas. Through the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) on social protection and social inclusion, the EU provides a framework for national strategy development and policy coordination between EU countries on issues relating to poverty and social exclusion, health care and long-term care as well as pensions. A key feature of the OMC are the National Reports on Strategies for Social Protection and Social Inclusion that are submitted by the Member States. Given the multiple dimensions of health inequalities, many other EU instruments and mechanisms can be used to address the issue. One example is the Cohesion Policy, which main objective is to reduce the significant gap between less-favoured regions and affluent ones in Europe. The Structural Funds are the financial tools that were set up to implement Cohesion policy, which include the European Social Fund - a fund that aims to strengthen economic and social cohesion by e.g. supporting employment and education, and social inclusion and the fight against poverty. There are many more EU policies that either directly or indirectly address health inequalities. You can find these examples in the Policy Database. | 
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