Preventing Inequalities in Health

In shaping prevention and health promotion policies, tough decisions must be made about which strategies to implement. Economic evaluation plays a critical role in determining the cost-effectiveness of these interventions.

However, beyond just assessing costs, a major challenge is developing methods that also address health inequalities. Understanding the effects of preventative measures on these inequalities is crucial. Strengthening institutional structures to ensure that both cost-effectiveness and equity are integrated into real-world decision-making is another key priority.

This program is focused on creating, refining, and implementing a more robust decision-making framework for health policy in Sweden. The goal is to ensure that policies not only prioritize cost-efficiency but also systematically address and promote health equity across the population.

More specifically we focus on:

• How can the effect of prevention and health promotion interventions on health inequalities be measured and analysed?
• How can inequalities in health be incorporated into cost-effectiveness analyses (Distributional CEA, DCEA)?
• How can DCEA be used to improve existing prevention and health promotion interventions?
• How can policy making institutions be enabled and supported to systematically utilise DCEA in practical decision-making?

The project is based at the Department of Economics, Department of Business Administration and the Faculty of Medicine at Lund University.