The European Commission has initiated a major project ” Closing the Gap: Strategies for Action to Tackle Health Inequalities ” to address health disparities. They have created a European Health Inequalities Portal with links to relevant agencies and networks, a database of best practices and country specific data on polices and programs.

Among their very useful and comprehensive publications are:

• a review of national policies and strategies to address health inequalities in Europe
• a similarly comprehensive review of international policy
• and a background paper for the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health analyzing why previous policy has had so little impact, what lessons can be learned from this experience, and how to develop policies that will work