According to the World Health Organization (WHO) a Health in all Policies (HiAP) approach contributes to sustainable development. Including health in structural development is a precondition for economie prosperity. People’s health influences economic outcomes in terms of productivity, labour supply, human capital and public spending.

In addition to this, regional authorities in border areas face problems related to the often-hampered structural development of these regions. The peripheral location of these areas and the differences in legislation between countries hinder free movement of labour and services and lead to disadvantages in economic, social and cultural development. Furthermore, citizens are limited in their choice of and accessibility to healthcare and there is less opportunity for cooperation in the healthcare market. 30% of all Europeans live in border areas.

Adopting participatory approaches (PA) – which is key also in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – means that innovative ways must be found to reach out to every single citizen, leaving no one behind. Technical discussions among policy and decision makers, should be complemented with constructive and empowering dialogues with all stakeholders, also citizens.

The questions addressed:

• How can a PA contribute to an efficient use of the regional and cross border health care infrastructure?
• How can the involvement of citizens in a PA benefit the citizen, the professional and the policy maker?
• How can you scale up regional structural development toa  cross border setting?
• How does a PA effect structural development?
• What are lessons learned from use of the PA in relation to structural development?

The topics presented:

• The Trento example: health policy making using the PA for structural development (IT).
• Lessons learned using the PA for structural development in primary health care in Flanders (BE).
  Both topics are based on a publication issued by the WHO Regions for Health Network (WHO RHN).

• Cross border policy making: how to use Citizen Summits for this (EMR), based on summits that were part of the WHO RHN -CoR Conference in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine (EMR).
• Cross border structural development regarding senior friendly communities: realisation via the PA (EMR), a project that was published by WHO in a good practice brief.

The European Week of Regions and Cities is an annual four-day event during which cities and regions showcase their capacity to create growth and jobs, implement European Union cohesion policy, and prove the importance of the local and regional level for good European governance.

Registration

You can register on the event website. The code of this workshop is 09WS474.