Social and Economic Policies Matter for Health Equity: Conclusions of the SOPHIE Project

Abstract

Since 2011, the SOPHIE project has accumulated evidence regarding the influence of social and economic policies on population health levels, as well as on health inequalities according to socioeconomic position, gender, and immigrant status. Through comparative analyses and evaluation case studies across Europe, SOPHIE has shown how these health inequalities vary according to contexts in macroeconomics, social protection, labor market, built environment, housing, gender equity, and immigrant integration and may be reduced by equity-oriented policies in these fields. These studies can help public health and social justice advocates to build a strong case for fairer social and economic policies that will lead to the reduction of health inequalities that most governments have included among their policy goals. In this article, we summarize the main findings and policy implications of the SOPHIE project and the lessons learned on civil society participation in research and results communication.

Longer working careers and sustainable work: the issue of social inequality

“…The age-stratified distribution of the association between the prevalence of general self-perceived health and employment types. Source: Malmusi (2015).…”

Trends in the use of mind-altering drugs among European adolescents during the Great Recession

“…More recently the literature has investigated the moderating role of social protection in the association between macroeconomic fluctuations and health outcomes (25)(26)(27)(28), finding that such an association tend to be weaker in countries with a high level of social protection (26).…”

“…Adolescence and young adulthood is often linked with an initiation into drugs (4), therefore, drug use trends among young people are a major public-health concern. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction estimates, in its European Drug Report 2018 (5), that 17.8 million young adults (aged [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] used illegal drugs in 2017. Among illegal substances, cannabis was the most common, with 17.2 million young adults (14.1% of the total) using it in 2017.…”

Mould in building disputes

“…What I mean by this is that we can infer that more buildings used for residential tenancy have mould and water damage problems. Therefore, the VCAT data for the built environment suggest that any strategic initiative or changes that promote a Health in All Policies 26 could help address inequality, and disadvantage and offer improved social protections 27 within the Australian housing market. There is increasing public media awareness about toxic mould.…”