Public health has gained a central position, in terms of scientific interest, among healthcare professionals and those responsible for health policy planning and design on an international scale since the second half of the twentieth century and beyond. This evolution tends to shape a new balance between public health practices and the clinical individual-centered approach of the classical biomedical model.
In the modern era, public health practices are not limited to measures of sanitation and health protection, but also aim to control and manage major risk factors for health. Moreover, the complexity of health problems in the human community, as shaped by increased population mobility, emerging and re-emerging diseases, and the prevalence of chronic and degenerative diseases, creates the need for an alternative view of health conditions in the light of scientific evidence and methodological completeness.
This study aims to highlight both the problems and the policies associated with public health, while simultaneously highlighting the (potential) role of the "local" in the design and implementation of corresponding actions.
In view of the "New Architecture of Self-Government and Decentralized Administration" promoted in our country, the goal of the research team is to utilize the research results in understanding the significance of activating mechanisms and structures that operate at the local level for public health, towards improving the population's health level.