Governance of public health: Norway in a Nordic context

Abstract

Introduction: The two pillars of public health are health promotion and disease prevention. Based on a notion of governance in the state -local relation as changing from hierarchical via New Public Management (NPM) to New Public Governance (NPG), the governance of public health in Norway is contrasted to governance of public health in the other Nordic states: Denmark, Finland and Sweden. Aim: The article aims to present and discuss the governance of public health as it is played out in the state-local relationship. Methods: The method is to study central state documents in the four countries, as well as articles, research reports and papers on public health. Results: The article shows that the governance modes (hierarchy, NPM and NPG) exist in parallel, but that their mechanisms actually vary in use. Legal, economic and informational mechanisms are, to a varying degree, in use. Conclusions: In Finnish and Swedish public health policies, health promotion is at the forefront; while Danish and Norwegian public health policies spur the local governments to carry out interventions to prevent disease and hospital admissions.