EuroHealthNet

EuroHealthNet’s vision is of a society in which all citizens enjoy their fundamental right to the highest attainable standard of health, without distinction of race, religion, gender or economic or social condition.

Achieving this is not simply the responsibility of health care systems but of all government sectors and actors that contribute to ensuring the conditions for good health, across the population. Therefore, EuroHealthNet stimulates and supports the implementation of integrated approaches addressing the social, environmental, economic and commercial determinants of health. We operate at all levels and across the political spectrum in relevant health, social, and employment fields to ensure consistent, coherent, and effective action to sustain and improve health for all.

EuroHealthNet builds its work on a wide body of evidence that demonstrates that health inequalities affect all people, and that ‘more equitable societies do better’, on a very wide range of indicators. We believe that integrated policy objectives which are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals are the best way to achieve improved health, wellbeing, and equity. Moreover, our vision is one where public health has a key role to play in the mitigation and adaption to the climate crisis.

The term ‘health’ refers to both physical and mental health, which are interlinked. EuroHealthNet upholds the values of equity, justice, community engagement and empowerment, which lie at the heart of health promotion.

We work towards:

• Health systems and societies that move away from narrow, curative conceptions of health and place a greater emphasis on health promotion, health equity, and achieving an ‘Economy of Wellbeing’.
• Health systems and governments that recognise that lifestyle-related risk factors for bad health are strongly related to the conditions in which people learn, live, work, play, and age- the social determinants of health.
• Communities that effectively resource health promotion, and that invest in both up- and down-stream approaches to address the social determinants of health, reduce inequalities and advance sustainability.