Inclusion health seeks to prevent and address the health and social inequalities experienced by groups of people due to poverty, social exclusion and multi-morbidity.
Inclusion health can be defined as a service, research, and policy agenda that aims to prevent and redress health and social inequities among socially excluded groups. Interventions are designed to address the social determinants of health, such as the circumstances in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, and to provide integrated and comprehensive healthcare services that aim to drive improvements that meet the needs of socially excluded groups, and to support innovation and productivity, while also enabling the delivery of personalised and responsive care.
The importance of applying the inclusion health lens within policy and service provision was highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which people experiencing social exclusion were rendered especially vulnerable. An inclusion health approach guided the government’s response to the pandemic, which was based on enhanced cooperation between departments, agencies, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
This was greatly apparent in homeless services and services working with Traveller communities: socially excluded groups in congregated settings received priority action in terms of shielding, detection, case management, contact tracing and vaccination. These efforts greatly mitigated the risk of COVID-19 among these populations. This helped to flatten the curve and greatly minimised the case numbers below what was initially forecast, further demonstrating the benefits of collaborative working between government departments, agencies and NGO’s.
The department is developing an Inclusion Health Framework. The department has contracted Inclusion Health Research Group (IHRG) in the College of Medicine and Health, UCC, to undertake a consultation process to inform the development of the Framework. The consultation process will involve an online survey, consultation events and consultations using the World Café methodology. The Framework is envisaged to be published by the end of 2024.