Effects of three local authorities’ measures to promote health
A comparison of results in the local authority districts of Assens, Greve and Hjørring

The overall purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect on people’s lifestyles of various ways of arranging and organising health promotion programmes in local authority districts.

The study indicates among other things that improvements in health-related behaviour cannot be achieved merely by various advice-giving initiatives which reach a circle which may be more or less wide. Measures are also needed that create the conditions and opportunities for habits and lifestyle, that is to say, conditions that limit unhealthy habits and promote healthy ones. This requires organisational structures in the local authority that can promote collaboration between the health care sector, the various authority services and private players, to develop measures that will reach wider groups.