Abstract

This report contains an erratum d.d. 11-01-2024 on page 45

Our health is not just determined by our lifestyle, genes or access to care, but also by such factors as our living environment, residential environment and income. Policymakers can reduce health differences by taking these factors into account. The resulting policy is referred to as Health in All Policies (HiAP).

In 2011, RIVM looked into the best way for the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport and municipal authorities to implement this type of integrated health policy. Since that time, many new initiatives have been developed in both the Netherlands and abroad. The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport would now like to know whether there any new insights that might improve the implementation of HiAP. To that end, RIVM has compiled a general overview. This describes what HiAP involves and how the approach has developed at the regional, national and international levels over the past years.

HiAP is increasingly a point for attention in national policy. The preconditions for getting HiAP off the ground have remained largely unchanged since 2011. For example, all parties involved must believe it is important to improve health, the target audience must be engaged and long-term funding must be ensured.

What has become clear is that it takes a long time to set up HiAP and sustainable cooperation is difficult to achieve. Among other things, this is due to differences of opinion about what HiAP involves. It is vital to focus on the process of cooperation rather than on short-term effects.

The recommendation is to launch HiAP on the basis of a common goal that all parties can get behind. Another important consideration is that the parties should agree on what they mean by ‘health’, so that everyone is on the same page. Governments in other countries are working on HiAP as well. The Dutch government can learn from their experiences.