How are the public health challenges shaping up from the local government's point of view?
Taking into account demographics, climate change, as well as economic development, and consequently changing lifestyles, there are powerful challenges ahead for the Rzeszow local government, as for any local government, both in terms of education and prevention, as well as health-related policies. All departments of local government, functioning on the ground, close to the resident, belong to it. When we talk about education, it's not just education at school. It's education on the street, in kindergarten, it's education in the family, but also in the office. It's education about lifestyle, how to respect the climate, how to take care of water. We want to live comfortably and don't always analyze what's going on around us. Meanwhile, our health is primarily our responsibility. There is a great deal we all have to do to make us feel co-responsible for our health. Today, each of us is our own doctor. We treat ourselves through the Internet and social media, and prevention, despite the fact that the local government runs a great deal of preventive programs, we are not yet fully up to speed, not yet all the possibilities are being used. We need to learn how to use the available programs.
You mention that there are preventive programs, those implemented and organized at the local government level. There are also, of course, preventive programs at the government level. As we know, the level of people's use of them is not very satisfactory.
Awareness is very low. When creating programs, we try, as a local government, to open the discussion, but in fact we also have to show examples and role models and participate in this education, that is, go directly to the settlements to meet with residents and show the good effects of prevention. Early detection of diseases gives a very good chance for a cure. Life expectancy is shortening, but at the same time this healthy life expectancy, which is what we should pay attention to in the first place, is also shortening. And it would be different if we took advantage of preventive programs earlier, even though, of course, they could be richer, there could be even more resources for them.
