Diversity in our society is increasing in numbers and in importance. Diversity encompasses not only ethnic-cultural diversity, but also socio-economic, gender and age diversity. There is superdiversity in our society, with influence on different domains of life.
There is also an interaction between different domains of diversity, which is also called "intersectionality", and which strengthens the influence of discrimination on several of these domains.
Who is in a vulnerable position in one or more domains (eg belonging to an ethnic-cultural minority, being a migrant, belonging to a low socio-economic class, being a woman, ...) can have an influence on health, healthcare and health care use.
International research shows that there is inequality in cancer prevention, incidence, prevention and care among vulnerable groups.
Large-scale data collections and analyzes with a focus on diversity and on the interactions between different aspects of diversity are scarce in Flanders and Belgium. The report "Health and health care for foreigners in Flanders" from 2006 was one of the last reports in Belgium, the focus of which was on an analysis of the HIS with attention for MEM (migrants and ethnic minorities).
The aim of the project is to investigate whether there is a difference in disease, prevention, health behavior, patient experience and social context in patients from vulnerable groups. To this end, we want to analyze the HIS data from 2013 with a specific focus on the influence of diversity (ethnic-cultural), socio-economic, gender and age on health and health care.