Lviv Polytechnic National University

Health protection as a leading idea of civil society: ways of implementation

       Ukraine can be come a democratic, lawful and social state only through facilitating civil society development. Civil society is characterized by high level sofeconomic, social, political, cultural and moral qualities, has well-developed legal relations with the state; it is a society of equal citizens which does not depend upon the state but interact with it for the sakeof common good. Recognitionof a person, his/her interests, rights and freedom as the main value of society can be considered key requirements of civil society. In order to achieve this, first of all it is necessary to organize effective cooperation between executive authorities and institutes of civil society, which should be based on partnership and mutual interest in achieving aims, connected with the process of democratization in all spheres of state management and social live, social-economic and spiritual progress and all-round protection of rights and freedoms of a person and citizen.

One of the key rights is the right for health protection, primarily vested by the Constitution of Ukraine and the Fundamental Legislation of Ukraine on health protection.   Unfortunately, the main principles of health protection declared by our state are implemented in practice not sufficiently and not always.

Therefore, accepting the policy of WHO, Ukraine puts intopractice the inter-industry complex program “Health of the Nation” for 2002-2011, that is aimed at meeting the needs of population in their health protection, ensuring rights of citizens for quality and affordable medical assistance, creating conditions for formation of a healthy way of living. According to the document adopted in 1998 by WHO “Policy for achieving health for all in the 21th century,” all members of the European Bureau of WHO should develop and implement the policy on all-national, regional and local levels with the support of respective ministries and other central bodies of executive power. The idea of health protection as a factor of state security formation occupies the leading place among the program regulations.

It is timely for Ukraine to “arm” itself with the ideology of health protection, that is characterized by : firstly, significant importance of health as a social value in people’s consciousness, in state management policy and various fields of activity; secondly, significance of individual and public health, expressed in various forms of social consciousness – politics, morality, law, education, art, media, etc.

Taking into consideration the complex interdisciplinary approach to solving problems of health protection of citizens recommended by international community, it seems reasonable to engage various professionals, social workers in particular, along with doctors in order to solve this problem. 

The activity of social workers, which is based on recognition of each person’s life as the highest value and is aimed at solving problems and making changesin society, people’s life, families and communities, facilitates opening up possibilities and people’s individual potential to the fullest, helps them to enrich their lives, prevents appearance of dysfunctions in their lives and society. Urgency of such health protection activity especially grows in the periods of a ggravation of social-economic and social-political situations, in conditions of crisis which Ukraine is undergoing.