02/02/2015 – As part of the ‘DRIVERS for Health Equity’ project, EAPN published a report and synthesis of case-study evidence on income and social protection, which is a joint EAPN and Centre for health Equity Studies (CHESS) work. Authored by Fiona McHardy with Olle Lundberg, this research undertook a case study approach exploring in a comparative country context, the impact of social protection system, both operations and provisions, on health inequality, in Hungary, Poland, UK, Sweden and Portugal. The publication also includes a Toolkit on how to develop focus groups (Annex 2).
Research was carried out by EAPN organisations in each country. EAPN Europe in Brussels provided overall coordination between the five partners.
The core research questions for this Work Programme were:
• To what extent do social protection policies (i.e. coverage, generosity of benefits, integrated package) act as a collective resource for people to draw upon when their own resources are failing?
• How does this system of support help prevent health inequalities?