[Changes in public health: the role of the state and the autonomous governments. SESPAS Report 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.