• Push national governments to take the fight against child poverty seriously
• Launch the Child Poverty Explainer & Unicef Report Card

The facts are known: one in four children in the European Union is at risk of poverty or social exclusion, amounting to 25.3 million children. The crisis and austerity measures across the continent have had an enormous impact on the most vulnerable in society – among them children, who have been disproportionately affected.

You can follow this event on Twitter using #childpoverty2013

What is child poverty?

EAPN and Eurochild take the opportunity of this event to launch “Towards Children’s Well-Being in the EU”, which aims to raise public awareness on child poverty in Europe and on the devastating effects it has on lives of children and families as well as on society as a whole. The explainer illustrates concrete solutions at EU, national, local and individual levels to support the implementation of the European Commission Recommendation. This will be available as from 10 April 2013 at www.eurochild.org

UNICEF Report Card  11 – Child well-being in rich countries. A comparative overview

UNICEF will launch its Report Card 11 at the Round Table. UNICEF Report Cards provide a mirror to industrialised countries on how children are faring in their societies, and present a wide range of measures of progress. Report Card 11 also includes an important section on how children see their own lives. The Report Card will be available from 10 April 2013.

The post Taking action to fight child poverty and to promote child well-being appeared first on Health Gradient.

Clare Bambra (Durham University) outlined six theories of health inequalities: artefact, health selection, behavioural/cultural, materialist, psycho-social and life-course, concluding that some of these may be more important than others in explaining why health inequalities are increasing despite the existence of developed welfare states.

Espen Dahl (Oslo and Akershus University College) described arguments that disadvantaged groups are harmed by generous welfare arrangements (‘they tend to benefit middle and upper income groups rather than the poor’, ‘they reduce incentive to enter employment’, and ‘they prevent parents from instilling a work ethic in their children’. He contrasted these arguments with the results of a study examining SILC data, which showed that: 1) educational inequalities in health are smaller in countries with generous welfare arrangements, 2) educational inequalities in unemployed people are smaller in countries with generous arrangements, 3) advantaged groups benefit less but are not harmed, and 4) welfare resources seem to compensate for lack of resources.

Presentations are available to download. Over the coming two years, DRIVERS will help extend even further our knowledge and understanding of the issues at stake, developing recommendations for policy, research, and practice.

The post Health inequalities in modern welfare states: Do we understand present trends? 23-24 January 2013 appeared first on Health Gradient.

PROGRESS-funded Working for Equity in Health is a project on the issues of work, worklessness and social protection.  It has reviewed the evidence for policy making and looked at best practice for communities to build on their assets.  Case studies were developed in Hungary and Poland and a benchmark tool developed.  This conference will share learning from the project and include keynote presentations from international experts in the field to expand on the themes.

Dr Harry Burns, the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland will chair the day and introduce a range of leading experts from partner countries who have taken part in the 2 year EU funded project.  Key note presentations will include Sir Michael Marmot, country case studies will provide insight into evidence based practice and interactive sessions will highlight learning from the project and promote a set of high level recommendations for future action.

The conference is free of charge. To register, visit http://www.hapi.org.uk/news-and-events.

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Children growing up in care or at risk of being taken into care are among the most vulnerable in Europe. Whilst no consistent data exists across Europe, the number of children concerned is significant, probably well over 1.5 million.

Issues to be discussed will include:

• the closing down of institutions;
• preventing child abandonment and care placement of under 3s;
• working with the biological families of children in care;
• support for children with disabilities and their families; and
• the transition to adulthood for children leaving care.

For more information or to register visit the Eurochild conference page.

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