HEPRO (''Health and Social Well-being in the Baltic Sea Region'') was a
public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...
project running from 2005-2008.
The project was part-financed by the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
as part of the BSR INTERREG IIIB programme, and managed by
Østfold
Østfold () is a county in Eastern Norway, which from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023 was part of Viken. Østfold borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other ...
County Council in
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
.
The national Healthy Cities networks in the Baltic Sea Region and the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...
both supported HEPRO. The HEPRO concept was based on the principles of the WHO "Health for All" strategy and
Local Agenda 21
Agenda 21 is a non-binding action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development. It is a product of the Earth Summit (UN Conference on Environment and Development) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. It is an action age ...
.
32 partners from 8 countries participated in the HEPRO project. These were Norway,
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
,
Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
,
Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
,
Lithuania
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...
, and
Latvia
Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
. The partners represented institutions, cities, municipalities, and regions from diverse and challenged parts of the Baltic Sea Region.
Aims
HEPRO aimed to integrate health considerations into
spatial planning
Spatial planning mediates between the respective claims on space of the state, market, and community. In so doing, three different mechanisms of involving stakeholders, integrating sectoral policies and promoting development projects mark the th ...
and development. Strong emphasis was given to
empowerment
Empowerment is the degree of autonomy and self-determination in people and in communities. This enables them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way, acting on their own authority. It is the process of becoming strong ...
; including
equity, participatory governance and
solidarity
Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...
, collaboration and action to address the
determinant
In mathematics, the determinant is a Scalar (mathematics), scalar-valued function (mathematics), function of the entries of a square matrix. The determinant of a matrix is commonly denoted , , or . Its value characterizes some properties of the ...
s of health. The project also aimed to make an important contribution to a sustainable public health policy in Europe.
Results
Among the results from the project were the HEPRO planning model, the HEPRO survey model, a questionnaire that was answered by 33000 respondents in the Baltic Sea Region, an interactive webpage and a database of results for future research purposes. It is intended that HEPRO will be followed-up by a new project that builds upon its results and experiences.
The HEPRO planning model
The HEPRO planning model is a systematic approach in six steps linked together in a "planning circle". Because policymaking is a continuous process, the different stages in the circle do not have to follow a fixed order. Implementation of one public health activity can go on simultaneously with efforts to create attention and to put other activities on the political agenda.
HEPRO was regarded as a territorial and cross-sectorial approach to planning that sought political power in order to improve living conditions, and as an institution building process. The intention was that after the project, the communities would have a better capacity to lead themselves, to focus their challenges, organise and help themselves, and to learn from their experiences.
The HEPRO survey model
The EUROHEPRO survey in 2006 included questions about issues influencing health and well being, ranging from health risks to individuals, to social environment and socio-economic status.
The conceptual framework, called the HEPRO model, is described as a broad social, physical and spatial health concept where health and well-being was viewed as something more than just absence of disease and illness. The main focus of the HEPRO model is health, as defined by the various professional actors in the field, as well as by the citizens themselves, or other important actors.
References
{{Reflist
Public health organizations
Baltic organizations
Medical and health organisations based in Norway