Winter School In Rome 2019

It ended on 20 December last, the one week Winter School on The Quest for Health equity in the Mediterranean context: focusing on migrants and on the poor carried out jointly by INMP and UCL Institute of Health Equity.

The main purpose of the Winter School was to provide applied knowledge on health inequalities and current health equity strategies. The training methodology, based on problem solving and other experiential exercises, has been designed to provide useful tools to address the health inequalities of vulnerable people - victims of exclusion processes - and to introduce possible actions to improve inequality situations. The Winter School is a complementary project to the academic programme of the Summer School offered by the UCL Institute of Health Equity in London during the summer, and focused mainly on health inequalities in the Mediterranean context.

The subjects offered by the course were mainly focused on vulnerable populations, such as poor people, migrants, difficult to reach and unaccompanied foreign minors. Through comparative analysis and applied research, the course approached health inequalities from various perspectives: epidemiological, social, anthropological, policy and health. Participants were provided with specific tools to understand the root causes of health inequalities in the Mediterranean context and, through the experiential exercise, had the opportunity to analyse and learn about a number of relevant good practices, undertaken with the aim of achieving greater health equity.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot, one of the leading experts on the subject, opened the Winter School with a presentation on the social determinants of health, focusing on the processes of exclusion in societies in the context of the social determinants of health. On the second day, Professor Marmot also chaired a workshop on "The root causes of social determinants of health in Mediterranean countries" and possible actions to tackle social exclusion in the area.

The course was held in English and was aimed at professionals interested in Social Determinants of Health working in public health, public administration, government institutions, education, governmental and private organizations.