Municipality announces its vision for health in an Iberian epidemiology congress

The city of Porto will host the Portuguese and Spanish Epidemiology congress, an important scientific event that counts with the participation of more than 800 specialists and the presentation of more than one thousand communications concerning the theme.

In the opening session, that took place this Tuesday, on the Noble Hall of the Rectory of University of Porto, the councillor for Health and Life Quality, Youth, and Sports of Porto City Hall participated in a round-table debate where she spoke about different policies the Municipality has implemented to support health promotion and disease prevention.

Catarina Araújo highlighted the collaboration protocol between the Municipality and ARS Norte, signed during Rui Moreira’s first mandate, which defined “improving the conditions of access of Porto citizens to primary healthcare” as a municipal commitment. From it came the preparation of the “countrywide pioneer” “Letter for Equipment and Primary Healthcare in Porto”, “instrument for planning under the medium term, and which identified, among other aspects, the places in Porto’s territory where it was necessary to invest on new primary healthcare facilities. An example of that would be the construction works on Centro de Saúde de Ramalde, secured by City Hall which made an investment of circa 800 thousand euros.

Another municipal investment, which is considered a management strategic tool, is the Municipal Health Plan, launched in the beginning of 2023. The plan combines “diverse and complementary approaches and methods, boosts innovation and the dynamization of territorial synergies, bringing forward proposals around its four strategic axes: Growing Up and Growing Old in Porto, Emotional, psychological, and social Wellbeing, Balanced Diet and Consumption, the councillor mentioned.

Equilibrium between local autonomy and central coordination

In relation to the decentralisation of expertise in the healthcare field, Catarina Araújo considered that “this process of decentralisation is being made sporadically, with no consideration to the differences on scales and resources between municipalities and of ensuring the proper budget neutrality, meaning, the allocated funds to the municipalities do not cover the inherent costs of the transferred expertise”.

“The transfer of expertise to the healthcare area is a challenge and an opportunity to the municipalities: a challenge because it implies an additional effort of resources, expertise and human resources, in an area in which the autarchies have yet to have consolidated experience; an opportunity because it allows the municipalities to define municipal strategies for health, with the citizens who elect them, meeting the necessities and expectations of the local population”, she added.

For a successful implementation, the councillor of Porto City Hall considers “it is crucial to find an equilibrium between local autonomy and central coordination to ensure that the health objectives are being reached effectively and equitably”.

The session titled “Bringing people closer to Health”, gathered guests with connections to health, to the decision-making body and to the local associations and was moderated by Henrique Barros, doctor, and president of the Public Health Institute of University of Porto.

The congress will take place until Friday and is organised, locally, by the Public Health Institute of University of Porto (ISPUP), in association to the promoters of Associação Portuguesa de Epidemiologia (APE) and Sociedade Espanhola de Epidemiologia (SEE), with the support of Porto City Hall.