One step further
Dec. 2020National prevention strategies: review and outlook
At first hand. Strategies are all well and good, but how can we ensure that our measures also benefit those who are in greatest need? The NCD and Addiction strategies are guided by the goal of equal opportunities. They are intended to ensure that everyone in Switzerland has the same opportunities for good health. Studies show that the distribution of these opportunities remains unequal. People with a low income, a low level of education and a migration background are often disadvantaged in several ways. This also puts them at greater risk of developing an NCD or an addiction problem.
Health equity is indisputably a worthwhile goal of which everyone is in favour. Yet there is still too little being done in this field. We are keen to ensure that both strategies contain measures that focus specifically on socially disadvantaged people, since a strategy that focuses solely on the middle classes cannot fulfil its purpose. Health promotion and prevention offerings must be accessible to all – while realising how difficult it can be to implement this approach.
The FOPH, the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal Ministers of Public Health and Health Promotion Switzerland have now published their first joint report, a document that will show the way forward in this field. The report titled “Equality of opportunity in health promotion and prevention in Switzerland” (in German and French) describes the theoretical basis of this work: what do we mean by health equity, how does it arise and how does it become visible? At the same time, the report bridges the gap between theory and practice: what approaches are effective and how do health equity measures need to be designed? It talks about projects that have proven their value in practice.
The three stakeholders have now, for the first time, created a basis for a common approach to achieving health equity. This takes us one step further. A step closer to equal opportunities for everyone in Switzerland.
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Contact
Salome von Greyerz
Head of Health Strategies Division
Roy Salveter
Head of Prevention Noncommunicable Diseases Division