Welsh Health Equity Status Report initiative (WHESRi)
What is it?
The Welsh Health Equity Status Report initiative (WHESRi) was the first Health Equity Status Report to be established nationally, using an innovative World Health Organization (WHO) framework. The initiative delivers to a Memorandum of Understanding which was renewed in February 2024, between the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the Welsh Government, focusing on accelerating progress towards building a healthier, more equal and prosperous Wales and Europe.
Established in 2020, the overall aim of the initiative was to provide an up-to-date dynamic picture of health inequities, their burden, determinants and related policies in Wales, in order to inform solutions and investment prioritisation, as well as to facilitate a joint cross-sector whole-of-government, whole-of-society policy dialogue and action towards a Healthier, More Equal and Prosperous Wales.
This was done through the creation of original reports which include:
- Placing health equity at the heart of the COVID-19 sustainable response and recovery: Building prosperous lives for all in Wales
- Influencing the Health Gap in Wales: Decomposition analysis discussion paper
- These reports shined a light on the stark inequalities experienced in Wales, both before and in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moving forward
Advocating for health equity is the main objective of the WHESRi, moving forwards we intend to do this through the work of our online presence i.e. Solutions for health equity web page, the facilitation and hosting of webinars with our partners in Public Health Network Cymru, and through collaboration with wider stakeholders.
- We facilitate and host webinars with our partners in Public Health Network Cymru, historical topics of focus have included the Inverse Care Law, Gender Equity and Understanding the Health Gap
- We collaborate with internal and external stakeholders across all sectors to make the case for health equity
Who is WHESRi for?
The initiative is intended for a wide range of decision-makers, including but not limited to:
- Policy-makers in national and local government
- Senior leaders across all public services, such as the National Health Service (NHS), those with
- Public health responsibilities, planners and managers
- Local communities, third sector and private organisations
- Academics, researchers and students
Other stakeholders whose role has an impact on health, well-being and equity.
WHESRi animations
The team have created a series of animations that highlight the WHESRi programme of work, which builds on the Memorandum of Understanding between the Welsh Government and the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe.
The first animation in this series provides an overview of the initiative and the use of innovative WHO Framework, through examples of health inequities in Wales, aligned and mapped to the five essential conditions, and highlights Wales as being one of the first live innovation sites for health equity and investment for health and well-being in the WHO European Region.
The second illustrates the main findings of the first report, ‘Placing health equity at the heart of the COVID-19 sustainable response and recovery: Building prosperous lives for all in Wales’ and focusses on the wider, less immediately visible effects of the pandemic on a range of issues including:
- Poverty, deprivation and social exclusion
- Unemployment, education and the digital divide
- Harmful housing and working conditions, and violence and crime
It also features the disproportionate impact that coronavirus has had, and is having, on specific groups such as children and young people, women, key workers and ethnic minorities.