Intersectoral Collaboration in Healthcare: an Overview of International Practices

Background. Health promotion and universal health coverage are among the functions of any healthcare system which include public, private and voluntary organizations providing health services to the population. However, healthcare actors cannot single-handedly ensure the accessibility of medical care to all individuals. It is intersectoral interactions that could improve the capabilities, performance and efficiency of healthcare system. Objective. To consider the possibilities of intersectoral collaboration in healthcare through the relevant examples of the implementation of intersectorality in healthcare practices. Materials and methods. Common research methods with the content analysis of international scientific articles as the main one were applied. The practices of intersectoral interaction for ensuring public health promotion and access to medical care were identified and collected from all analyzed articles. Results. Intersectoral collaboration might be carried out between various departments and authorities, educational and civil society organizations, commercial companies and other entities. The performance and efficiency of intersectoral collaboration are achieved using the specially developed tools. The international practice of intersectoral collaboration on public health protection issues has many great examples of interactions facilitating the accomplishment of different goals, such as accessibility of medical care, prevention of noncommunicable diseases, and health emergency response.