Invitation – EsCHER symposium – Eddy Van Doorslaer Award

In this symposium, organised in celebration of the EsCHER Eddy Van Doorslaer award, the pivotal findings of the paper awarded set the stage for a discussion on inequalities during mental health treatment. Bringing research, policy and practice together the panelists will discuss potential causes and solutions.

Eddy Van Doorslaer Research Excellence Award recognizes excellent research in the broad field of Health Economics. The publication awarded for 2023 edition, by Francisca Vargas Lopes and co-authors in The Lancet Psychiatry, describes how inequalities favouring patients with higher income persist through the different stages of mental health treatment, beyond the point of access, widening the mental health gap. These findings, summarized for Tijdschrift voor Psychiatrie here, were pivotal in quantifying the problem at the international level, bring in new questions about the causes and solutions of the uncovered disparities.

Following the brief presentation of the findings from ‘Income inequalities beyond access to mental health care: a Dutch nationwide record-linkage cohort study of baseline disease severity, treatment intensity, and mental health outcomes‘, three panelists with vast experience in mental health research, policy and practice will embark on a discussion about the hypotheses behind the findings, and how these results can be followed up by more investigation and/or action. There will be time for questions by the audience.