Smart governance for health and well-being: the evidence

Governance for health describes the attempts of governments and other actors to steer communities, whole countries or even groups of countries in the pursuit of health as integral to well-being. This study tracks recent innovations to address the priority determinants of health and categorizes them into five strategic approaches to smart governance for health. It relates the emergence of joint action by the health and non-health sectors, public and private actors and citizens, all of which have increasing roles to play in achieving seminal changes in 21st-century societies.

The chapters presented here were initially commissioned as papers to provide the evidence base for a study to support the new European policy framework for health and well-being, Health 2020. Calling for a health-in-all-policies, whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, Health 2020 uses governance as a lens through which to view all technical areas of health. This book provides access to background papers for the study on governance for health in the 21st century, published by the WHO Regional Office for Europe in 2012. Prepared by eminent experts, the chapters provide further detail on the issues raised, and culminate in a comprehensive depiction of what constitutes smart governance for health in the 21st century.