Work

Reviewing and comparing existing european NCD and risk factor policies and interventions

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: There is strong evidence for social inequalities in morbidity and mortality due to cancer and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) across Europe. As part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), EU countries committed to addressing health inequalities through cross-sectoral, evidence-based policies. This presentation focuses on results from a scoping review aiming to evaluate the impact of national and supranational policies on social inequalities in cancer and other NCDs and related risk factors. The review includes policies that either directly target social inequalities in NCDs, report equity-related outcomes, or address broader determinants such as education, employ-ment, income, or healthcare access. Risk factors considered include behavioural (e.g. to-bacco, diet), metabolic (e.g. obesity, hypertension), environmental (e.g. air pollution), and commercial determinants of health. The scope covers cancer, cardiovascular disease, di-abetes, and COPD, and includes any EU or WHO European Region country. Sixteen studies met inclusion criteria, mostly from Western Europe. They applied experi-mental and non-experimental designs (e.g. DiD, ITS). Preliminary analysis indicates a lack of evidence from Eastern Europe and limited policy evaluations that focus explicitly on health equity. In addition, if available at the time of the conference, findings from a comparative policy analysis questionnaire will be presented, along with efforts to build a meta-repository of best practices. The results will contribute to identifying effective and equity-promoting policies and sup-port the development of evidence-based recommendations to reduce social inequalities in cancer and NCDs in Europe. Final deliverables and milestones of the JAPreventNCD pro-ject, which ends in August 2025, will further consolidate these efforts.

Source: European Journal of Public Health

DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/ckaf161.766