Social disadvantage can lead not only to poverty but can reduce a person's ability to engage effectively in mainstream society.1 2 For a number of years a variety of public health models have sought to tackle inequalities. These include the declaration of Alma Ata Health for All, theWHO Healthy City movement, now almost 15 years old, bringing together a worldwide network of cities that have exchanged information and experience in tackling the determinants of health. Experience from these initiatives' promotion of targets for health improvement, cooperation, collaboration and partnership working at city level is seeded within the joined up working and thinking that is dominating “third way” governments' strategies for health improvement in the developed world.

Important steps for information exchange in Europe have yet to facilitate sufficient knowledge and information exchange about public health models, activities and projects that are in place and their true impact on the health and welfare of those living outside the mainstream of society.

In 1997 Stockholm County Council put forward a proposal to develop a network of health executives and politicians from the capital cities in Europe to DGV in the EU. This networks' aims would be to find effective means of achieving better health and reducing inequalities. A steering group was formed with health representatives from Stockholm, Vienna, Amsterdam and London and three sub-networks were created to focus on three priority areas socially disadvantaged groups, children and young families and older people. Three years later some early fruits of this …