EuroHealthNet
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| Not-for-profit partnership | |
| Founded | 1996 |
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Area served
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Europe |
| Members | 31 national member groups |
| Website | www |
EuroHealthNet is a non-profit partnership of organisations, agencies and statutory bodies working to contribute to a healthier Europe by promoting health and health equity between and within European countries. EuroHealthNet achieves this through its partnership framework by supporting members’ work in EU and associated states through policy and project development, networking and communications. The network’s office has been located in Brussels since 1996 and staff members are experienced in engaging with the EU institutions, decision makers and a large number of stakeholders from public authorities, civil society, the corporate sector and academia. EuroHealthNet has connections with national and regional governments, as well as with the European institutions, and therefore a good understanding of how evidence and information on health equity can be introduced in current policy making agendas.
The secretariat of around ten staff is based in Brussels and supports the partnership, which operates in three closely interlinked pillars:
Health inequalities can be defined as “systematic differences in health between social groups” and populations. Health inequities, on the other hand, are unfair, “avoidable inequalities” of populations within and between countries. The WHO’s Committee on the Social Determinants of Health stated that the social gradient, - systematic differences between populations - was unfair; “killing people on a grand scale”.
Perhaps the clearest example of health inequalities can be seen in life expectancy. The difference between life expectancy at birth can vary by over a decade between European Union member states. For example, in 2012 the life expectancy at birth for Swedish males is 81 years, whereas in Lithuania a baby born could expect to only live until 68.4. In terms of healthy life years (years of life lived without disability) the gap is even greater, with Estonian males born in 2012 predicted to have 18.4 fewer healthy life years than their Maltese counterparts. These disparities in life expectancy don’t just exist at the macro scale, but can be seen right down to the neighbourhood level; with differences reaching into the decades. Such disparities are found world-wide, with a whole area of research looking at demographics and improving life expectancy.
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Wikipedia