Thursday, May 15, 2025
The working conference ‘Action in the Delta’ for a healthier Zuid-Holland provided valuable input for the Delta Action Agenda. On Tuesday, April 8, more than 300 participants, guided by experts, worked in sessions focused on seven themes. The outcomes and findings from the workshops have been further developed and form the basis for follow-up discussions with directly involved parties.
The Zuid-Holland region ranks at the bottom when it comes to health and healthcare. Overall, its residents are the least healthy, and health disparities in Zuid-Holland are the largest in the Netherlands.
At the same time, Zuid-Holland is one of the most innovative and competitive regions in Europe, with a high density of businesses and a strong knowledge infrastructure.
With the Delta Action Agenda, various collaborating organizations and experts aim to scale up existing initiatives and proven solutions to make Zuid-Holland healthier. The province of Zuid-Holland and the Medical Delta partnership took the initiative to map out which successful solutions already exist and how these can be further scaled. In collaboration with ZHIA and Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities, a working conference was held on April 8 to bring the network together and gather input.
Goals of the Delta Action Agenda
The ambition is to create a broad Delta Action Agenda in which proven successful initiatives from Zuid-Holland are implemented on a larger scale, thereby contributing to a healthier Zuid-Holland. This will create a strong network that serves as a role model for the Netherlands.
Although successful solutions and collaborations exist, scaling them up is not always easy. Good coordination and cooperation, as well as addressing, advancing, and scaling successful solutions, are necessary and form an important goal of the Delta Action Agenda.
Outcomes of Working Sessions: Initial Conclusions Emerging
The working sessions on April 8 form an important building block for further shaping the Delta Action Agenda. Besides the overarching mission to reduce health disparities, three solution directions emerged:
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Healthy living environment (encouraging healthy behavior, better lifestyle, more physical activity)
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Healthy food environment (making healthy food the easiest and cheapest choice for everyone)
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Vital employees (healthy residents are valuable employees)
Key focus areas include sustainability and innovative financing across domains.
To give these solution directions substance, the focus is on how various organizations in Zuid-Holland—such as knowledge institutions, governments, healthcare organizations, healthcare funders, and businesses—can collaborate. Together, but also with end users of care, such as residents, patients, healthcare providers, and informal caregivers. By ‘loosely connecting,’ strengths are combined without becoming fully intertwined, thereby enhancing impact.
Next Steps: Knowledge Sharing and Discussions
In addition to individual follow-up meetings, a knowledge session will be held on June 30 focusing on scaling methods around several themes, including ‘healthy nutrition,’ ‘healthy living environment,’ and ‘vital employees.’ More broadly, the session will explore how to reduce health disparities and which innovations can be applied for prevention.
Ultimately, this will lead to a joint Delta Action Agenda. This agenda will be presented on November 13 during the Festival Gezond Verstand 2025. This event will also mark the kickoff for the next phase: moving from action agenda to action plan and, finally, concrete steps to make Zuid-Holland healthier.
At the Healthy Zuid-Holland Knowledge Event, academic workplaces, policymakers, and practitioners will come together to exchange lessons learned, opportunities, and experiences, and to provide input for the Delta Action Agenda.
Click this link for more information and to register.
Timeline
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