Health Equity Pilot Project

The intention of the Health Equity Pilot Project (HEPP) is to maintain focus on and mainstream action on health inequalities. This forms a basis for and is complementary to work on developing the new Joint Action on Health Inequalities in 2017. This is being achieved by focusing work on health inequalities related to the major policy themes of nutrition, physical activity and alcohol.
This report provides an update on the scientific evidence on the status of health inequalities in Europe relating to the following determinants of health:
• Nutrition and diet in the first 1000 days
• Nutrition and diet beyond early years
• Physical activity (and sedentary behaviour)
In each case, reviews of the literature were conducted on the impact and efficiency of policies and actions on health inequalities related to these lifestyle determinants, including evidence on the effectiveness and efficiency of interventions in reducing inequalities as well as the existing behavioural economics literature.
Topics covered
Nutrition and diet in the first 1000 days
• Socio-economic status and breastfeeding up to 6 months
• Socio-economic status and childhood obesity at different ages
Nutrition and diet beyond early years
• Socio-economic status and adult obesity
• Socio-economic status and salt (sodium) consumption
• Socio-economic status and trans fats consumption
• Socio-economic status and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption
• Socio-economic status and fruit and vegetable consumption
Physical activity (and sedentary behaviour)
• Socio-economic status and physical (in)activity
• Socio-economic status and access to green spaces
• Socio-economic status and active travel (walking and cycling)
• Geographic indicators of deprivation and adult obesity
• Geographic indicators of deprivation and childhood obesity
• Geographic indicators of deprivation and physical (in)activity
• Geographic indicators of deprivation and traffic speed (and traffic calming measures)

Social determinants of health inequalities
There are marked differences in the social determinants of health across EU Member States and inequalities in health between social groups based on these determinants. In 2008, the World Health Organization (WHO) Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) concluded that social inequalities in health arise because of inequalities in the conditions of daily life and the fundamental drivers that give rise to them: inequities in power, money and resources. They argued that social and economic inequalities underpin the determinants of health: the range of interacting factors that shape health and well-being.
Recent analyses of health inequalities and their causes in Europe have supported the findings of the CSDH that social inequalities in health arise because of inequalities in the conditions of daily life and the fundamental drivers that give rise to them.