DISCRIMINATION – A THREAT TO PUBLIC HEALTH Final report – Health and Discrimination Project

Abstract

Discrimination – a threat to public health is the final report of the “Health and Discrimination” (HD) project conducted jointly from 2004 to 2006 by the National Institute of Public Health (FHI), the Office of the Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination (DO), the Office of the Disability Ombudsman (HO) and the Office of the Ombudsman against Discrimination on grounds of Sexual Orientation (HomO). The principal aims of the HD project have been to develop methods for measuring health and discrimination, to shed light on the correlations between health and discrimination, to develop indicators for discrimination, and subsequently to disseminate the results at the national, regional and local levels. HD has employed reports of self-reported discrimination at the individual level to quantify the incidence of discrimination and clarify the correlation with health issues. Posing questions on experiences of discrimination in population surveys makes it possible to relate such experiences with other measures of health based on person experience. HD considers that self-reported discrimination is a good indicator for monitoring the development and prevalence of discrimination since the sum total of such experiences reveals structures in society related to gender, age, ethnic background, religion, disabilities and sexual orientation.