Health Promotion And The Cooperation Of Provincial Governments With Non-Government Organizations

Local governments play an increasingly important role in the implementation of public tasks. This is a result of consistent national policy, which leads to a gradual takeover, by the subordinated units, of obligations previously carried out by the state. The demonstration of this tendency is reϐlected, among others, in the decreasing government involvement in the ϐinancing public tasks, such as welfare assistance and health care. Since the early 90’s, a sharp increase in the number of non-government organizations is observed, including those focused on health improvement of local communities. The purpose of this article is to present the research material about the practice of provincial government actions from the perspective of health promotion initiatives. The analysis covered all provinces during the five consecutive years, between 2005-2010. The research project verified the territorial differentiation in the context of pursued responsibility for the health care among particular provinces in the country, with a special emphasis on the participation of non-proϐit organizations in health promotion in terms of their cooperation with local governments. The research material was subjected to a context analysis and was preceded by a careful study of both domestic and foreign literature in the area of health promotion, relevant health indicators and social sciences, with a particular emphasis on the responsibilities of local governments for the health sector and public health issues. The research tool was a survey instrument developed by the authors and directed to all twelve provincial governments in Poland. The study examined the connections of local governments and nonprofit organizations cooperation in the area of health promotion, focusing on the currently implemented health programs, organizational, personnel, content-related and financial support of these investments.