The local municipalities’ role in public health

Compared with other countries, the number of municipality-level representatives is large in Sweden and the other Nordic countries, and the municipalities are organized in a similar manner. From an international perspective, the “Nordic model” means significant decentralization. The municipalities in the Nordic countries have responsibility for the most essential societal issues that affect citizens’ daily lives.

The municipalities maintain schools, daycare, care of the elderly and disabled as well as water and sewage infrastructure, among other things.  That is, they maintain organizations that have significant impact on human health. For the practical achievement of public health on the local level, it is primarily the public health board, the public health coordinator, and the municipal administration that are responsible. On the whole, the organization for public health issues in Sweden has become stronger over the last 15 years. In 2009 the Swedish National Institute of Public Health mapped the municipal public health efforts and their organization.

In January 2004, a new network for Swedish health cities was formed. The network binds the cities to work according to the intentions in the WHOs criteria for Healthy Cities. Eight Swedish municipalities were included in the network: Falun, Helsingborg, Karlstad, Kristianstad, Linköping, Malmö, Trollhättan and Östersund. The network’s task is to support the member municipalities in the development of local public health policies and the efforts. Another broad network is the Swedish Society for Public Health Work (SFFF) which among other things produces a member newsletter and conducts educational seminars for politicians about public health.