Health Equity Education - HEQED seminar

With the onset of the HEQED project, we experienced that several global crises deeply impacted the daily lives, health, and wellbeing of people across Europe and elsewhere. At our first team meeting in Bergen (Norway), February 2022, social distancing measures due to COVID-19 were being gradually removed. The COVID-19 pandemic up to that point had clearly demonstrated how (in)equity relates to health. Several factors as pre-existing conditions, place of residence, racialisation, occupation, gender identity/sex, religion/beliefs system, education/literacy level, socioeconomic status, social capital, and age, among other factors (Ismail, Tunis, Zhao & Quach, 2021) have been found to increase health inequity during the pandemic. At the same day as our kick-off meeting started, Russia invaded Ukraine, and a Europe in war affected our thinking and work.

During our second meeting in Zaragoza (Spain), October 2022, the HEQED team together with key stakeholders: students, teachers and decision makers in higher education and the public, jointly reflected on the aspects previously discussed, as well as on other, new emerging issues including the current global climate crisis. Our joint effort contributed to further contextualizing and shaping our HEQED project, and thus also our framework for health equity through higher education. A continuous process of analysis and reflection on key concepts forms the basis for our work. As representing a major societal institution, namely higher education, we also agreed on taking a clear and visible stand towards justice, ethics and morality related to health equity, which is understood and conceptualized as a process and not an end in itself.

At this third HEQED transnational meeting in Helsinki (Finland) June 2023 we will continue:

to further discuss different perspectives on health equity and and reflect on how ethical judgements and evaluations promote or hinder health equity in a European and global social context.
to develop the HEQED home, an open educational resource (OER) platform, for collaborations between educational institutions, NGOs, humanitarian organisations, user organisations and individuals with digital material on health equity

Program for June 8th:

13.00-13.15	Welcome to the seminar Eva Biaudet, Member of the Parliament of Finland, former representative in minority issues
13.15-13.30	Introduction and presentation of the HEQED project and framework Maria Nordheim Alme, project leader, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences
13.30-14.30	Megatrends and a Vision for the Future of Health, The Finnish Innovation Fund Tuula Tiihonen, Sitra
14.30-15.00	Coffee break
15.00-15.30	Health equity in health care in Finland - a public perspective City of Helsinki Nora Grotenfelt, Specialist in general medicine, Chief Physician at Munkkiniemi health station
15.30-16.00	To work with an antirasism program in higher education Joséphine Gram, coordinator, Ad Astra r.f.
16.00-16.20	Take home messages

Please sign up for the seminar before June 6th.

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