HARBOR · Healthcare Access in Rural Border Regions. Realizing Patient Rights Across European Borders

Healthcare Access in Rural Border Regions. Realizing Patient Rights Across European Borders

HARBOR is the first comparative study of cross-border interactions and their impact on access to healthcare in rural and disadvantaged border areas in Europe. Building on a novel conceptual framework in which cross-border mobility and cooperation are an integral part of healthcare territories, the project aims to close the gap in regional studies and social policy literature and provide an integrated approach of cross-border interactions and access to health care in rural border regions. Through a detailed comparison of two case studies in four countries (Belgium-France and Norway-Sweden), as well as a survey of Nordic and EU-wide policy developments, HARBOR provides new, gender-sensitive, comparative knowledge about how the EU, national, regional and local authorities can foster socially sustainable access to health care in rural border regions. The key objectives of this project are: 1. to identify the dynamics of cross-border health care in border regions and understand the local politics of cross-border cooperation; 2. to contribute to multi-level health policy research and foster comparison between European border regions; 3. to draft recommendations for health policy in European rural border regions. Access to timely and affordable health care in rural and disadvantaged areas has become a primary concern in most European welfare states and is enshrined in the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR). However, specific issues linked to access to health care in undersupplied border regions and potential for decentralised cooperation are still overlooked. Most European border regions are either rural or semi-rural and are facing similar challenges: access to health care is often complicated by administrative divides, low population density, scattered resources, and often a greater distance to regional health care providers than similar facilities across the border. Some of these areas have therefore long-established local agreements that allow for cross-border mobility and cooperation. The main conceptual ambition of HARBOR is therefore to construct a new integrated framework for understanding the scope, governance, and relevance of these arrangements in their local and domestic context rather than as a stand-alone cross-border phenomenon. This conceptualization of cross-border patient mobility and health care cooperation as a missing link between Europeanization and regionalization unlocks a deeper and more dynamic comparative understanding of the dynamics at play in rural border regions.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз