The main areas of activity of the Bureau are to organise and provide accessible and appropriate public health care services, as regulated by laws and other legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania, to natural and legal persons in the territory of the municipality, as well as other municipalities if this is established in the cooperation agreement concluded between municipalities.
Areas:
- Public health monitoring.
- Public health strengthening.
- Public health care in educational institutions (pupils educated in pre-school educational institutions, general education schools and vocational education institutions according to pre-school, pre-primary, primary, basic and secondary education programmes).
- Implementation of state public health programmes, inter-institutional action plans, and public health measures provided for in municipal strategic documents approved by the municipal council.
- Public health care for children and youth, and coordination of youth-friendly health care services.
- Compulsory health education.
- Other public health care activities regulated by the legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania.
Based on the scope of competence, the Bureau performs the established public health care functions in respect of all age groups according to the priorities in the following areas of impact: prevention of communicable diseases, non-infectious diseases and injuries; reduction of addictions, smoking, the use of alcohol, drugs and other psychoactive substances; promotion of physical activity, proper nutrition and other factors of healthy lifestyles; promotion of mental health strengthening measures and prevention of disorders; promotion of healthy aging measures; reduction of health inequalities.
Public Health Monitoring
Public health monitoring is the collection, accumulation, processing, storage, analysis and evaluation of data on the state of public health and the public health risk factors affecting it carried out in a purposefully organised and systematic manner. The monitoring is carried out in the territories of municipalities in order to obtain detailed information on the state of public health of the communities residing in these territories, the factors influencing public health, and other public health indicators, as well as to plan and implement measures to strengthen public health. The list of municipal public health monitoring indicators is approved by an order of the Minister of Health of the Republic of Lithuania.
When carrying out the monitoring of municipal public health, the Public Health Bureau performs the following functions:
- Collects and stores data on municipal public health indicators, as well as evaluates and analyses changes in the indicators;
- Annually prepares a draft municipal public health monitoring report;
- Based on the methodology and questionnaires developed by the Institute of Hygiene, from 2016 onwards, carries out surveys on the lifestyle of students of the 5th, 7th, and 9th (first year at a gymnasium) grades at least every 4 years in March and May; from 2018 onwards, conducts monitoring surveys concerning the lifestyles of adult population of municipalities and submits the survey data to the Institute of Hygiene by 1 July of the year in which the relevant survey has been conducted;
- Submits a draft municipal public health monitoring report for the previous year to the Director of the Municipality Administration by 31 December;
- On the basis of the data, submits proposals to the municipal agencies regarding the improvement of public health indicators and the organisation of municipal public health monitoring;
- Is responsible for the quality of municipal public health monitoring reports;
- Provides information to the public.
Information on activities in this area is provided in the following sections: Health Statistics → Annual Data and Health Statistics → Surveys.
Public Health Strengthening
The measures to strengthen public health include health education, dissemination of information on healthy lifestyles, promoting and shaping healthy lifestyles, and minimising behavioural risk factors concerning public health.
Public health education is a set of state and municipal, and civic initiative-based measures that promote the formation of a healthy lifestyle.
The Bureau provides anonymous and free of charge counselling to people suffering from addictions, implements programmes aimed at the improvement of mental health competencies for employees, as well as and mental health skills building and competencies development programmes, conducts health-promoting physical activities in the municipality and implements health promotion measures for persons with risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Information on activities in this area is provided in the following sections: Live Healthy, News, Projects, Collaboration, and Preventive Programmes.
Public Health Care in Educational Institutions
The aim of health care is to protect and strengthen the health of children through active cooperation with their parents (guardians, foster-parents).
Health care tasks:
- Carry out monitoring of the health status of children;
- Develop children’s skills concerning healthy lifestyles;
- Carry out monitoring and prevention of public health risk factors.
Information on activities in this area is provided in the following sections: Health Care in Educational Institutions → Kindergartens and Health Care in Educational Institutions → Schools.
Public health care for children and youth, and coordination of youth-friendly health care services.