Bridging sectors and disciplines to gain a critical understanding of the eco-social determinants of health inequities: the ESDHI-EU Conference

Abstract

The current eco-social crisis is driven by an unsustainable socioeconomic model based on continued economic growth that exceeds planetary limits. Groups experiencing disadvantages are being disproportionately affected, further deepening global, regional, and local health inequities. Understanding the simultaneous ecological and social crises through a comprehensive approach across disciplines and sectors-including citizen participation-is essential for driving transformative change and paradigm shifts. Achieving genuine ecological sustainability, social justice, and health equity is critical for transitioning towards a new social-ecological paradigm in research and policy. This requires transformative research and policymaking in key areas-eco-social crisis; democracy, social inclusion and participation; geopolitics; and equitable, sustainable cities-all of which represent pressing challenges within this global crisis, and serve as thematic axes for the European conference Rethinking the Eco-Social Determinants of Health Inequities through the Transdisciplinary and Intersectoral Lens (ESDHI-EU), which will be held in Barcelona, Spain, on May 22-23, 2025, and will explore the root causes of health inequities from a transdisciplinary, intersectoral, and transnational perspective.