EP Policy Event Report: “Health Equity for Marginalised Voices – EU’s Path Forward"
On 5 March, the Nobody Left Outside (NLO) Initiative organised the event “Health Equity for Marginalised Voices – EU’s Path Forward,” bringing together policymakers, experts, and advocates to explore strategies for advancing health equity across the EU. Co-hosted by MEPs Stine Bosse, Vytenis Andriukaitis, and Tilly Metz, the event underscored the need for inclusive and equitable policies that address the specific challenges faced by marginalised communities.
Discussions highlighted the EU’s critical role in ensuring equal access to healthcare, addressing the social determinants of health, and embedding equity considerations across all areas of policy and legislation. Speakers emphasised the importance of developing targeted strategies to close health gaps—particularly for underserved populations—and reinforced the need for a collaborative, cross-sectoral approach to deliver lasting change.
This report captures the key interventions, takeaways, and actionable recommendations from the event, outlining steps to strengthen health equity efforts across Europe.
👉 Read the full report here
EP Policy Event: Health Equity for Marginalised Voices: EU’s Path Forward
📅 Date: March 5, 2025
🕟 Time: 16:30 - 18:00 CET
📍 Location: European Parliament, Brussels (SPINELLI 3H1)
The agenda is available here
Ensuring equitable access to healthcare is fundamental to building a strong and resilient European Health Union. However, marginalised communities across Europe continue to face systemic barriers, ranging from administrative and financial obstacles to deeper inequalities rooted in broader social and economic factors. With the EU’s new legislative mandate, it is crucial to prioritise health equity across all policy areas, ensuring that health is not addressed in isolation but integrated into all relevant EU strategies and frameworks. A European Health Union grounded in equity is essential to guaranteeing that all individuals, regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, socio-economic status, or residence status, have access to the healthcare they need.
To advance this discussion, the Nobody Left Outside (NLO) initiative is hosting “Health Equity for Marginalised Voices: EU’s Path Forward”, a policy event at the European Parliament on March 5, 2025.
Co-hosted by MEPs Vytenis Andriukaitis (S&D), Tilly Metz (Greens/EFA), and Stine Bosse (Renew Europe), the event will focus on bold and actionable steps to:
- Embed health equity into all policy areas (e.g. anti-poverty, migration, housing, anti-racism, etc.)
- Address social determinants of health, recognising the impact of economic inequality, employment, education, housing, migration, and other policies on health outcomes
- Ensure that primary healthcare is affordable and accessible by reducing financial and administrative barriers and ensuring people will not face immigration enforcement as a result of accessing health services
- Strengthen early detection, treatment, and care for marginalised groups
A key outcome of the event will be a call for a concrete action plan that ensures equitable access to healthcare for all communities. The event will also serve to reintroduce the Nobody Left Outside initiative to EU policymakers and mark the re-launch of the “Friends of NLO” network, an informal platform fostering collaboration between policymakers and health stakeholders.
🔗 Join us to help shape a European Health Union that leaves no one behind.
📝 Register here
For any questions, please contact info@nobodyleftoutside.eu
Committee on Public Health’s (SANT) report on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) adopted in the plenary session of 13 December
We are pleased to welcome the adoption of the Committee on Public Health’s (SANT) report on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) at the plenary on 13/12. We appreciate and recognise many positive elements of the report, which closely align with our shared commitment to addressing health disparities and improving healthcare access across the EU.
We thank the MEPs for their important work at the committee and on the report. We appreciate and recognise many positive elements of the document, which closely align with our shared commitment to addressing health disparities and improving healthcare access across the EU. Overall, we are very happy about the final report which included:
- The term ‘marginalised’
- Emphasis on disproportionate impact of NCDs on these communities
- Call for targeted initiatives to reduce healthcare disparities
- Emphasis on the importance of addressing the socioeconomic determinants
In light of this progress, we strongly encourage the MEPs at the SANT committee to further prioritise discussions on health inequalities and the healthcare challenges faced by marginalised groups in forthcoming hearings.
NLO develops policy priorities for the upcoming EU Elections
As the European Union approaches the pivotal 2024 elections and a new parliamentary mandate, it is imperative that legislative priorities place access to healthcare and the reduction of health inequalities at the forefront of the political agenda. To ensure sustainable and inclusive healthcare systems across the EU, it is crucial to prioritise marginalised groups, including people experiencing homelessness, LGBTI people, people who use drugs, prisoners, sex workers, ethnic minorities, and undocumented migrants, and confront the existing disparities that undermine equitable healthcare.
- Ensuring Universal Health Coverage: Enact policies and legislations that guarantee equal access to quality healthcare services for all individuals, irrespective of their socioeconomic background, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, occupation, migration status or other factors. This should include ensuring that accessing health services, and other vital services and supports, does not have immigration consequences for people with irregular or insecure residence status through the creation of “firewalls”.
- Intersectional Approach: Recognise the intersecting identities and challenges faced by individuals within these groups when accessing healthcare services and develop an EU Action Plan on Access to healthcare for Marginalised communities.
- Integrating Health Perspective into All Policies: Approach policy development in all areas, including migration policy, with a focus on assessing and understanding their potential health impacts on marginalised communities.
- Removing financial Barriers: Ensure that healthcare services are affordable and accessible to marginalised groups by reducing financial and administrative (such as requirement to have an address) barriers.
- Elimination of Discrimination and Stigma: Combat discrimination within healthcare services towards marginalised groups, as these violate fundamental rights and lead to reduced access, inadequate care, or avoidance of healthcare services due to fear of mistreatment or stigmatisation.
- Enhancing Primary Healthcare: Invest in robust primary healthcare systems that serve as the first point of contact for individuals, especially those from marginalised communities, and prioritise preventive care, early intervention, and health promotion for these groups.
- Promoting Health Literacy: Promote initiatives that enhance health literacy among marginalised communities, empowering them to make informed decisions about their health. Provide access to reliable health information, health education programs, and multilingual resources to bridge language barriers.
- Data Collection and Monitoring: Establish robust systems for data collection, analysis, and monitoring of health inequalities, with a particular focus on marginalised groups, to inform evidence-based policies and interventions that effectively reduce disparities.
- Best Practice Sharing: Foster collaboration and knowledge sharing among the EU Member States to develop innovative approaches and share best practices in reducing health inequalities and improving healthcare access for marginalised communities.
- Active Inclusion of Marginalised Communities in Policymaking: Establish a comprehensive framework for the active inclusion and participation of marginalised communities in the development of public health policies and services. This should involve continuous and structured engagement mechanisms, collaboration with community-led organisations, and inclusive decision-making processes that prioritise the specific needs and expertise of these communities.
Committee on Public Health (SANT) amendments reflect marginalised communities' concerns
The report is particularly important for people in marginalised communities, as they suffer disproportionately from non-communicable diseases. They experience greater vulnerability to developing these diseases and encounter significant barriers in accessing essential NCD treatment and care. This alarming disparity requires immediate attention and targeted interventions to bridge the gap in health outcomes.
We commend the efforts of MEPs who have presented amendments to the report, endorsing several critical recommendations, such as:
- Inclusion of the Term 'Marginalised': The report now explicitly includes the term 'marginalised,' signifying the recognition of the unique challenges faced by these communities.
- Disproportionate Suffering: It emphasises that marginalised communities are disproportionately affected by non-communicable diseases and are more vulnerable to developing these conditions. This is a crucial acknowledgment of the disparities in healthcare outcomes.
- Increased Exposure to NCD Risk Factors: The amendments highlight that marginalised populations face a greater exposure to risk factors associated with NCDs, contributing to their higher prevalence and mortality rates.
- Targeted Initiatives: The report calls for targeted initiatives to reduce healthcare disparities and ensure equitable access to NCD prevention and treatment services for individuals from marginalised backgrounds.
- Socioeconomic Determinants: Socioeconomic determinants of health are now identified as major NCD risk factors, emphasising the multifaceted nature of health disparities.
- Reducing Undiagnosed NCDs: Member States are encouraged to introduce targeted health checks for high-risk individuals and those belonging to vulnerable and marginalised groups, with the aim of reducing undiagnosed NCDs. Early diagnosis and intervention are pivotal in improving health outcomes.
- Specific Awareness Campaigns: The report underscores the importance of paying particular attention to disadvantaged, vulnerable, socially excluded, and marginalised individuals. It highlights the need for specific awareness-raising campaigns tailored to groups with unique health literacy needs.
As MEPs continue their deliberations on the draft report and the proposed amendments, NLO encourages policymakers to support and retain these crucial amendments. These amendments prioritise the health of the most vulnerable and have the potential to significantly promote health equity. It is imperative that we work together to ensure that the amendments are not only considered but also integrated into the final report to create a more inclusive and equitable healthcare system for all EU citizens. Together, we can make a meaningful impact on public health in the EU.
European Health Forum Gastein 2023 Climate and health: Understanding the impact on Europe’s most marginalised communities: Moving from mitigation to inclusive adaptation and resilience
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EHFG 2023- Climate and health: Understanding the impact on Europe’s most marginalised communities: Moving from mitigation to inclusive adaptation and resilience
We are excited to announce that NLO is back at the European Health Forum Gastein this year, collaborating with Wellcome on a session of utmost importance. We invite you to join us for an enlightening discussion on:
"Climate and Health: Understanding the Impact on Europe’s Most Marginalised Communities: Moving from Mitigation to Inclusive Adaptation and Resilience"
Date: September 28th, 2023
Time: 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM (CEST)
More information is available here.
At a pivotal juncture within the EU election cycle, this session will delve deeply into the crucial interplay between climate and health, with a specific focus on marginalised groups. We will examine the profound impact of the climate crisis on these underrepresented communities. The session will feature engaging panel discussions with experts and provide opportunities for dynamic World Cafe discussions. These discussions will aim to bridge the knowledge gap concerning the intersection of climate and health, with a particular emphasis on marginalised communities.
Recognising that marginalised communities bear a disproportionate burden of the adverse consequences of climate change, the insights generated during the session will inform policy frameworks aimed at delivering a more equitable future for all. By scrutinising current policy frameworks related to climate adaptation and health, as well as ongoing initiatives, the session will seek to influence future political priorities and policy advancements at the EU level. It will:
- Make the case for action on climate and health, with marginalised communities at its heart.
- Explore existing data and research in this field.
- Discuss current examples of good practise and how these could be scaled/challenges of implementation.
- Galvanise around need for further action, in particular around the European elections.
We invite you to join us for this crucial exploration of how the EU can best champion the prioritisation of the health of marginalised communities as an integral part of long-term climate action plans. By prioritising these communities and their unique challenges, we can forge a path toward a more prosperous and inclusive future!
‘Surviving not thriving’. A discussion paper based on the outcomes of the ‘youth dialogue on mental health and social inclusion’ is now available
In December 2022, NLO in collaboration with WHO Regional Office for Europe, hosted the Youth Dialogue on Mental Health and Social Inclusion. The event brought together youth representatives covering healthcare professionals, young people with lived experience of mental health conditions and services, representatives of marginalised groups, and other interested parties to discuss mental health and well-being among young people, with a focus on who is most at risk and left behind. As a result of these discussions, we are thrilled to announce the release of 'Surviving not Thriving' discussion paper. We thank WHO Regional Office for Europe for their unwavering support and young participants for their valuable contributions during and after the event.
This paper is an essential read for anyone interested in the mental health and wellbeing of young people. It highlights the challenges faced by young people in terms of their mental health, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need for sustained efforts from societal and governmental levels to address the issue. It provides valuable insights into the realities faced by young people experiencing poor mental health and social exclusion and offers practical recommendations for policymakers, service providers, and other stakeholders to address these challenges effectively.
‘Surviving not thriving’ paper is now available here
A Video Message from Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe
In a recent statement, Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, praised NLO's work as an organisation dedicated to improving healthcare access for some of the most vulnerable members of our societies.
Dr Kluge commended NLO for its commitment to promote health equity and reduce disparities in accessing healthcare services for marginalised communities. He highlighted NLO's efforts to engage with communities, build partnerships, and develop innovative solutions to effectively address present health challenges.
"The work of Nobody left outside and its member organisations speak strongly to the principles that WHO stands for. We have a common purpose to work towards inclusive, accessible health systems to provide care for all those who need it, when and where they need it."
We are honored to receive this recognition from Dr Kluge and thank WHO Europe for their unwavering support.
The video statement is available here
NLO endorses the DisQo- anti-discrimination & health equity Joint Statement
NLO is a member of a Thematic Network DisQo, which brings together people and organisations with the shared ambition to address structural racism and discrimination for health equity. We are proud to endorse the ‘DisQo- anti-discrimination & health equity’ Joint Statement, which advocates for improving public health through the proactive elimination of institutional, structural, and interpersonal racism and discrimination that impact physical and mental health inequalities. The Joint Statement outlines five key priorities for addressing the issue in a constructive, collaborative, and respectful manner. NLO together with the undersigned organisations calls for decision-makers at all levels including the European Commission, to take an active stance against all forms of racism and discrimination.
We at NLO are committed to the following actionable steps to ensure equity, anti-racism, and anti-discrimination:
- Recognise racism and discrimination as the fundamental determinants of health, equity, and well-being. We will continue to: enhance policies and practices aimed at preventing them in our organisation; acknowledge this issue in our work and advocacy efforts where feasible; form partnerships and work collaboratively with organisations from various sectors to establish groups of professionals that can learn from each other’s experiences.
- Strengthen social participation of racialised and discriminated communities, and foster diversity, representation, and anti-discrimination. Through our work, we will continue to actively advocate for the greater involvement of the marginalised communities in creating, implementing, and assessing legislative initiatives; offer personal experiences, feedback, and practical solutions.
- Increase the clarity and consistency of critical definitions related to racism, discrimination, and health equity. We will foster safe spaces to engage in respectful and inclusive dialogue and provide leadership and active engagement in EU actions to harmonise definitions.
- Collect more (health) equality data, disaggregated by indicators on multiple grounds of discrimination, and harmonise EU data collection. We will advocate for high-quality equality data by urging for proper resource allocation at both the EU and national levels; focus on leading and participating in initiatives that work towards standardising the collection of equality data throughout the EU.
- Strengthen existing EU anti-discrimination legislation by breaking down silos and boosting policy mainstreaming, transparency, reparative justice, and social participation. We will enhance cooperation with groups beyond typical network affiliations and take a proactive role in participatory initiatives aimed at incorporating EU policies more widely.
We are fully committed to our goal of ensuring accessible healthcare for marginalised people in Europe. By aligning with this Joint Statement and urging the European Commission to follow suit, we aim to promote a fairer, more just, inclusive, and overall, a healthier society.
The Joint Statement is available here.