Social inequalities and health

In the course of the past few years, the topic of social disadvantages and health has attracted growing attention in Austria and at EU level (under the heading of health inequalities). This issue is of special importance in the field of health promotion and prevention, with increasing demand (e.g. due to obesity, bad oral health, addiction) on the one hand and lack of accessibility and effectivity on the other.

Over the past few years, surveys on poverty and health and on women threatened by poverty have been conducted, and in addition, the aspect of social disadvantages has been included as an additional issue in a variety of projects (e.g., prevention schemes; HTA report on obesity prevention).

The growing relevance of this issue is taken into account by investigating in depth the connection between social, or socioeconomic, disadvantages and health and by developing target group specific prevention strategies.

Contact: Sabine Haas,

Women and Health Care Institutions (in German, 2002)
Health and Risk of Illness (in German, 2003)
Social inequality and health (2002)
Acceptance of health services by socially disadvantaged groups
Prävention von Adipositas bei Kindern und Jugendlichen (2009)