Job description regional health coordinators

Even though people in Austria are living longer and longer, they are spending fewer and fewer years in good health (EUROSTAT, 2019). Chronic diseases, which often occur together (World Health Organization, 2019) and cause both individual suffering and high costs in the health care system, are largely responsible for the gap (Ghebreyesus, 2018). Health is created where people live (World Health Organization, 1986, 2017). It is important to reach people in the communities where they live, as long as they are healthy. Following this approach, the initiative "Tut gut!" has been implementing a university course for regional health coordinators (RGK) since 2018, which is unique in Austria, together with the Danube University Krems. Graduates will have the necessary knowledge and skills to work together with relevant key persons in the communities to strengthen health promotion and prevention in the communities in a targeted manner. For the successful operation of the RGK, it is important that its tasks and activities are well coordinated and clearly communicated with those of existing professionals and volunteers. To this end, the Centre for Evaluation specifies the structural embedding of the RGK, its competencies, services and the prerequisites for sustainable activity in the context of an accompanying research project. The implementation is based on the analysis of secondary data and involves key persons in regional health promotion and prevention. The project will be implemented with funds from the Lower Austrian Health and Social Fund (NÖGUS) from March 2019 to January 2020.