Criteria for implementing interventions to reduce health inequalities in primary care settings in European regions.

Background: The current social and political context is generating socio-economic inequalities between and within countries, causing and widening health inequalities. The development and implementation of interventions in primary health care (PHC) settings seem unavoidable. Attempts have been made to draw up adequate criteria to guide and evaluate interventions but none for the specific case of PHC.

[The architects of change: a plenary session exchange].

The closing plenary of the colloquium was an occasion for exchange between the four panelists and the participants. The panelists included Luc Berghmans, a doctor and director of the regional health observatory of Hainaut, Belgium; Louise Bouchard, a sociologist and professor in the Sociology and Anthropology Department, University of Ottawa, Canada; Michel O’Neill, a sociologist and professor at the Faculty of Nursing Sciences, Laval University, Quebec City, Canada; and Philippe Lorenzo, director general of IREPS, the regional bureau for health education and promotion of Picardie in Amiens, France. Louise Potvin, who moderated the plenary, provides the summary that follows.

Health indicators in the European regions--ISARE II.

Background: Most comparisons of health data in Europe take place at the national level. However, there is increased interest in looking at health data at a sub-national level. This is because of the increased importance in many European countries, of regions and devolved powers to them.