EFA

On 14 March 2006, the European Commission’s DG Health and Consumer Protection published two new reports on Health Inequalities in Europe, commissioned as part of the UK Presidency in 2005. The first report ‘Health Inequalities: a Challenge for Europe’ is a review of national-level policies and strategies aimed at tackling health inequalities and to reduce the variable health gap within Member States. Much progress has been achieved but many challenges still remain. The second report, ‘Health Inequalities: Europe in Profile’ presents data on inequalities in mortality in 21 countries, inequalities in self-assessed health in 19 countries, and inequalities in smoking in 24 countries. Health Inequalities is an area also receiving particular attention from the European Parliament: in the recent adoption of the public health programme (2007-2013) see above, particular mention was made of the importance of closing the gap of health inequalities throughout Europe.