Health policies & health inequalities

How policies could improve the health of disadvantaged people

Citation. “The litmus test for health policies is that they promote the health of socially disadvantaged people”

Goal or mission statement. My aim is to describe social inequalities in health, to assess the role of people's living conditions, and to evaluate the impact of collective policies among all relevant groups in society

Research themes. Health inequalities. I am particularly concerned with describing and understanding the health of socially disadvantaged groups, such as the poor or low educated, ethnic minorities, and residents of deprived areas. It’s not just a matter of unhealthy lifestyles’, but we need to look at living conditions in order to understand why social disadvantage is related to health and health behaviours. I study, for example, characteristics of the living environment (e.g. safety, noise exposure), social environment (e.g. discrimination) and national situation (e.g. economic crisis, educational systems).

 

Tobacco. Smoking is a public health disaster. For many years to come, smoking remains the most important single cause of disease and death in Europe. I perform several studies with the aim to understand why young people, especially those with lower educational levels, start smoking. Also, I assess the how tobacco control policies could best help young people to refrain from smoking, and adults to stop. I have a particular focus on environmental or ‘supply side’ policies, e.g. display bans, aimed to make tobacco a less normal, less visible and less affordable commercial product.

 

Innovative methods. Where needed, I apply innovative methods to generate relevant and reliable scientific evidence. I have coordinated European projects with the aim to learn from comparing distinct countries, and identify and study ‘best practice’ countries. Where possible, I apply the ‘natural experiment’ method as a means to evaluate the effectiveness of real-world policies using before-after intervention-control designs. I have embraced the ‘realist’ approach, which made me focus on ‘how’ questions, e.g. how policies really work out in people’s lives, and how their impact could be enhanced. These are the questions that really matter to public health practice.

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Prof.dr. Anton Kunst Prof.dr. Anton Kunst