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This Project has received funding from the European Commission
The European network of health promotion agencies Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung National Institute of Public Health, NIPH Finnish Centre for Health Promotion (FCHP) The Institute of Public Health in Ireland National Social Marketing Centre International Union for Health Promotion and Education European Partners

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You are here: > National Level Policies > Estonia

National Level Policies: Estonia

europe map with estonia highlighted

Country Profile

Estonia is one of the three Baltic states. Since its independence in 1991, it has undergone significant political and social changes. Due to features characteristic for a transitional economy, the value of Gini coefficient as calculated for Estonia equals 0.372, where 0=perfect equality and 1=perfect inequality (United Nations Human Development Report, 2004).

Discussions on health inequality started in the late 1990s. In 2000, the World Bank Expert Commission asked the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs to carry out a study on inequalities as a prerequisite for an official loan. It resulted in the report “Social Inequalities in Health in Estonia” that triggered further studies and discussions in this area. Subsequently the local NGOs got involved and took this issue further. Although there is no single explicit policy document relating to health inequalities, there are several epidemiological studies as well as national actions aimed at tackling this issue (see details below).

The background information for this entry was collected by the Estonian project partner - Krystiine Liiv of the Estonian National Institute for Health Development.

The following persons also contributed either by participating in the roundtable discussion or by providing their comments independently:

  • Andrus Lipand - Ministry of Social Affairs, Public Health Department, chief specialist
  • Liina Järviste - Ministry of Social Affairs, Social Policy Information and Analysis Department, analyst
  • Ene Tomberg - Tallinn City Government, Head of Health Care Department
  • Ille Allsaar - The Association of Estonian Cities
  • Jarno Habicht - WHO Country Office in Estonia, Head of Country Office
  • Maris Jesse - Praxis Centre for Policy Studies, Head of the Program Health Policy
  • Ruta Kruuda - Praxis Centre for Policy Studies, Health Policy Expert
  • Maarike Harro - NIHD, Director General
  • Aljona Kurbatova - NIHD, Head of the Department of Health Strategy and Planing

Policies, Strategies and other Documents

This section provides the key documents on health inequalities published on a national level in Estonia in the  past decade.

Tools and Resources

In this section main tools used to implement and monitor national policies in the field of health inequalities are listed.

Key Actors

In this section key actors that are in a position to have an impact on health inequalities policies, such as ministries, state agencies, universities and/or independent institutes are listed.

National database of good practice

Please click here to learn about the databases where you can find a collection of good practices aiming at reducing health inequalities collected in Estonia.

Strategic Initiative

In the course of Closing the Gap, participating institutes have developed Strategic Initiatives outlining further steps that can realistically be taken to tackle health inequalities.

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