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The INEQ-CITIES Project

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The INEQ-CITIES Project

Welcome to INEQ-CITIES, a study of socio-economic inequalities in health and mortality in 16 European cities at the beginning of the 21st century.

Within the countries of Europe, there are many examples of systematic differences in health between different social groups.  Disadvantaged groups suffer from poor health and exhibit higher rates of morbidity and mortality than affluent groups with improved social and economic circumstances.  In this sense, people living in deprived areas from disadvantaged social backgrounds are the worst off. Such health inequalities in Europe are more pronounced in urban areas and should be an important consideration in urban health policy.

Cities are characterised by geographical segregation of social groups, resulting in neighbourhoods with distinct socio-economic and health characteristics.  Although the majority of the European population now live in urban areas, there are relatively few studies analysing socio-economic inequalities in health and mortality in Europe.  As the first regional study on health inequality across and within the cities of Europe, INEQ-CITIES advances the understanding of how social inequalities in health exist amidst different social and political contexts.  Moreover, comparative analysis of urban health policies and interventions to tackle inequalities in health will be useful to inform recommendations for the future.  As such, INEQ-CITIES has identified and examined the health inequalities in Europe alongside the social and health policies undertaken in each city in order to make recommendations to monitor and to tackle inequalities in mortality in Europe.

The INEQ-CITIES Project, partially financed by the Executive Agency for Health and Consumers (EAHC) of the European Union, has taken place from September 2009 to August 2012.  The project is co-ordinated by the Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, and is comprised of a regional network of 18 research centres across 14 European countries:

  • Amsterdam (Netherlands)
  • Barcelona (Spain)
  • Bratislava (Slovakia Republic)
  • Brussels (Belgium)
  • Budapest (Hungary)
  • Cluj-Napoca (Romania)
  • Florence (Italy)
  • Helsinki (Finland)
  • Košice (Slovakia Republic)
  • Lisbon (Portugal)
  • London (UK)
  • Madrid (Spain)
  • Paris (France)
  • Prague (Czech Republic)
  • Rotterdam (Netherlands)
  • Stockholm (Sweden)
  • Turin (Italy)
  • Zurich (Switzerland)