Technical Consultation on Poverty and Health

Venice (Italy)
29 Nov - 1 Dec 2007

At its 51st and 52nd sessions the WHO Regional Committee for Europe adopted resolutions to reduce the effects of poverty on health.
In 2007 and as part of ongoing follow-up, WHO issued a call to Member States for case studies on policies and interventions to improve health system performance for socioeconomically disadvantaged groups (including Roma, immigrants, children living in poverty, and people furthest from the labour market).
A Technical Consultation will be held in late November 2007 to review more than 20 case studies and provide a platform for jointly reflecting on action undertaken at national and sub-national levels, lessons learnt, policy implications for health systems, and know-how requirements.
Poster of a case study that will be presented at the Consultation. © ACEC
One of the 25 case studies being prepared for the event, the study from Slovakia focuses on “Healthy Communities”, a project by the Association for Culture, Education and Communication (ACEC) that is operating in 67 villages with Roma populations and Roma settlements. © ACEC
The aim of the Consultation is two-fold:
1) exchange lessons learnt on strategies and interventions that ensure health system access among specific disadvantaged groups;
2) explore how the health system can influence — through promoting stewardship within and beyond the health sector — action on socioeconomic determinants of health including poverty, limited educational opportunities, unsafe employment conditions and social exclusion, as well as the combination of these.
The Consultation will be attended by approximately 100 participants from 28 Member States of the WHO European Region. Participation is by invitation only.
The Consultation benefits from the kind support of other institutional sponsors: the National Institute for Health, Poverty and Migration (based in Rome); the Ministry of Health of Germany; the Veneto Region of Italy; the Local Health Unit Azienda Ulss 12 Veneziana; the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Promotion and Labour Market Policies (BKK Bundesverband) and it's being co-hosted by the Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti.