[Changes in public health: the role of the state and the autonomous governments. SESPAS Report 2010]. / Cambios en la salud pública: el papel del estado y de las autonomías. Informe SESPAS 2010.

The first responsibilities in health passed on to the autonomous governments were those referring to public health. However, the decentralization process has not been accompanied by an updated management of the collective efforts to promote and protect health, or by a greater weight of public health within the system. To carry out such a reform, public health authorities and the central and autonomic administrations must assume their corresponding roles. The leading role should correspond to the central administration and includes the coordination and evaluation of the entire process, while the regional public health authorities should be in charge of providing public health services to the population, promoting innovations, and collaborating among themselves as well as with the central administration. Recent legal initiatives show some political sensitivity and may provide an opportunity, in addition to those provided by the economic crisis, to emphasize the role of guarantor rather than that of supplier for the state. Paradoxically, the marginality of public health could facilitate the necessary political agreements, even though party interests may be an obstacle. The influence of professional associations could be important.

[Working conditions of public health workers in the primary care in Catalonia, Spain]. / Situación y perspectivas laborales de los técnicos de salud de atención primaria de Cataluña.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the working conditions and tasks of health workers in the health training unit of family medicine in Catalonia, Spain. METHODS: Cross-sectional study. RESULTS: Fifty-three public health workers were located. Forty responses were obtained, of which 29 were complete. More than half the health technicians in the Catalan Health Service had temporary contracts. Their main tasks were teaching, providing methodological assistance in research, and auditing healthcare services and healthcare workers. Health technicians wanted more precise job definition and better working conditions. Although a small proportion believed coordination of primary care and public health to be very difficult, most would take part in it. CONCLUSIONS: The main issues for public health workers were work instability, better salaries, and greater job definition. Coordination between primary care and public health was considered desirable.