Local Health Authority Day 2023

Prevention and Health Promotion

The local health authority is a central pillar in protecting the health of the population. The Local Health Authority Day is celebrated on 19 March. This year’s motto is "Prevention and Health Promotion".

Prevention means reducing burden of disease within the population by targeted measures, such as vaccination (in order to prevent disease in the first place), screening examinations (in order to identify disease as early as possible) and staff trainings (in order to better treat certain conditions). Prevention strategies focus on individual behavioural aspects, but also on living conditions such as a safe work place, smoking-free environments or creating bicycle lanes. Health Promotion means strengthening personal, social and material resources to promote health. On the one hand, people should be empowered to strengthen their health by themselves, on the other hand, social conditions should become more beneficial for health. While Hospitals and doctors' surgeries care for the well-being of individual patients, public health authorities aim at prevention measures for the broad population. Thus, local health authorities are crucial players for prevention and health promotion on the spot.

On 19 March 2019, RKI has proclaimed the Local Health Authority Day for the first time. It was on this day in 1745 that Johann Peter Frank was born, a physician and social medicine specialist considered as the founder of Public Health. Efficient local health authorities are the backbone of all public health efforts everywhere in the world.