Health and Wealth in East and West - divergence and convergence in Europe. European Society for Health and Medical sociology, 12th. Congress

European Society for Health and Medical Sociology (ESHMS) aims to contribute to an all-European discussion of health and society in Europe, including how to overcome European health divisions and promote health across Europe and elsewhere. Since 1986 the ESHMS has organised bi-annual congresses in different cities in Europe. In 2008 the congress will for the first time take place in a Nordic city, Oslo, at Oslo University College. The theme of the upcoming congress in Oslo is recent societal changes af fecting health and health care of European countries with a specific focus on the East/West divide. The congress will be devoted to converging and diverging developments between East and West, within these two parts of Europe, and within individual countr ies. The focus will be on societal changes and their consequences for population health, social determinants of health, health inequalities, and on welfare and health care institutions. Keynote lectures and thematic sessions will highlight these developme nts, but nevertheless the full range of sociology of health and illness will also be represented in order to do justice to the many research areas covered by the discipline. It is expected that about 150 reseachers will participate at the congress which will last for three days, i.e. August 28-30th 2008. The scientific program will include four key note speakers, a number of oral presentations and a poster session. In agreement with the ends of the Society the target group for the congress will be scho lars in the field of sociology of health, but also scholars who take a research interest in health and society in Europe such as epidemiologists, policy analysts, researchers of social medicine and public health, health geographers and health economists. The conference will be organised by the executive committee of ESHMS which consists of ten members from different European countries and a local organising committee which includes four people.