Salud pública y sistema sanitario. Informe SESPAS 2010

To change this situation, consensus must be reached on the desired relationship between public health and the health system. Such a consensus would then have to be accepted and work would have to be undertaken to improve results. Three alternatives are proposed: (i) public health would be an organization that would be above or outside the health system; (ii) public health would be synonymous with the public health system; and (iii) public health would form part of the health system with a range of assigned functions. Finally, we provide some recommendations to help define the most effective and efficient relationship between public health and the health system.