Ensuring Collaboration Between Primary Health care and Public Health Services

This publication draws from successful experiences in collaboration between public health and primary health carein five European countries (Austria, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden). Three basic conditions wereidentified that must be satisfied to effectively increase collaboration between public health and primary health careprofessionals. First, staff should be motivated by the potential to improve their working conditions and contributeto programme goals that they support and should be equipped with the knowledge and skills to implement theprogramme. Second, the organizational culture should be conducive to collaboration. This involves empoweringlocal leaders, fostering trust and camaraderie among colleagues, rewarding excellence and providing opportunitiesto develop skills in communication and collaboration. Finally, formal collaboration mechanisms, either specificto the programme at hand or – better yet – integrated within national policy frameworks, should allow smoothcommunication and participatory decision-making