IUHPE

The IUHPE, the French National Institute of Health Education and Prevention (INPES) and the French Health Directorate have been working closely together for several decades, for the development of public health policies in France and to respond to the need to acquire knowledge and share experiences of strategies and interventions taking place internationally.

They share common priority areas of work with the IUHPE, like reducing health inequalities, health impact assessment, building professional capacity and competencies, to cite a few. The reduction of health inequities has become the preoccupation of many governments, be they on the national, subnational or local level. While the need to act has been widely acknowledged, lesser known (and even lesser proven) are effective methods to do so. In addition to and amplifying this lack of actionable knowledge is the uncharted territory of how, concretely, to choose, fund, and deploy initiatives and means that tackle social inequalities in health from a prevention and health promotion perspective, particularly through a focus on vulnerable populations.

Among other results of this longstanding collaboration, it is worth noting the final publication of a joint research programme, containing practical frameworks for reflection to support action by practitioners and decision makers to reduce health social inequalities.

See : Potvin L., Moquet M.J., Jones C.M. (directed by), “Réduire les inégalités sociales en santé”, INPES Editions, La santé en action, 2010, http://www.inpes.sante.fr/CFESBases/catalogue/pdf/1333.pdf

 In addition INPES makes significant resources available to the IUHPE by hosting its headquarters in its own premises, thus contributing to the IUHPE’s operational capacities.”