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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.
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Public Awareness
This section explores the general public awareness by looking at NGOs, media and university understanding and integration of health inequalities related issues.
NGO advocacy
Almost all countries (70%) presented examples of NGO advocacy.
In the Czech Republic for example, Romany associations have advocated for their -vulnerable/disadvantaged- situation regarding health.
In France, NGOs such As ‘Medecins du Monde’ or ‘ATD Quart Monde’ played a substantial role in raising awareness on social exclusion issues and health.
The media
Figure 10: Number of countries having Media (TV and Radio) coverage on health inequalities.
Most countries said that the media (TV/Radio and newspapers) cover issues relating to health inequalities. Both the content and frequency of media features vary a lot. Whereas in some countries the media covers issues relating to access to health services and health inequalities policies development, in others they address issues relating to economic exclusion solely.
In Northern Ireland for example, a search through the ‘Belfast telegraph’ over a 2 years period revealed 4 matched articles, three of which were referring to grants offered to tackle the issue and one relating to a specific project to tackle health inequalities in a rural area of Londonderry.
In Germany, a search trough the media database over a 2 years period did not reveal any hits for the term health inequalities. However matched articles were found when searching for poverty and health.
This highlights problems relating to the translation of the term ‘health inequalities’ in some countries. In Germany, although there is a term referring to health inequalities, the term equity is more frequently used. In other countries, such as Latvia there is no - official- translation of the term health inequalities.
Publications
Most countries (18) have identified publications that directly or indirectly address issues relating to health inequalities, making available information in the country’s language. In most cases these are books on health related issues and articles appearing in health related magazines that have included chapters on health inequalities. There are also few examples of books that are specifically about health inequalities.
A book published in 2002 is for example looking at health inequalities in Scotland.
In Estonia, there are no books published in Estonian on health inequalities but there is a translation of a WHO publication on the social determinants of health. The issue of health inequalities is also discussed in general public health related publications.
Health inequalities for medical students
Figure 11: Number of countries having integrated health inequalities in the curriculum of medical students.
11 countries have integrated health inequalities into the curriculum of medical students, while the remaining countries do not address health inequalities related issues, highlighting the fact that it is not considered a relevant issue nor a priority for medical students. Some of these countries have however mentioned that it is slowly progressing and that some universities are now starting to give courses on health inequalities.
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© 2009 Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA) | last update: 2008-01-01