Health systems confront poverty

Health systems have done and are doing much to tackle the complex and daunting problem of poverty and health. This book describes 12 initiatives already undertaken in 10 WHO Member States: Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom.

It documents WHO’s preliminary findings on how health systems can help to alleviate poverty, and reaches three main conclusions: that these systems can take effective action to improve the health of the poor, that they can sometimes represent an additional barrier for the poor and that more knowledge, training and capacity building in this area are urgently needed.

It is hoped that the information presented here will contribute to WHO’s efforts to help countries across the length and breadth of Europe improve health and increase equity by tackling poverty and its effects on health.