The dissertation research theoretically substantiates the conceptual principles of improving the mechanisms of state regulation of the municipal sector of dental care for the population of Ukraine based on the identification of new roles and functions of government subjects in the context of deepening the health care reform at the regional level.
The structural and logical scheme of the dissertation is based on the following system research blocks: analysis of the theoretical and methodological foundations of state regulation of dental care in Ukraine; research of domestic and international experience of state regulation of dental care in the conditions of decentralization; development of conceptual bases for improving the mechanisms of state regulation of dental care in Ukraine.
The relevance of the dissertation research topic lies in the fact that dental health is an integral part of overall health and, at the same time, a valuable measure of quality of life, social satisfaction and well-being at the individual and community levels as well as the national and global levels. According to the World Dental Federation (FDI) and WHO experts (World health statistics, The World Oral Health Report), today more than 90% of the world’s population have chronic dental pathology, 60-90% of school-age children have dental caries, and the most common reason for skipping school is toothache. Malignant neoplasms of the maxillofacial region occupy the 8th place among the most common visual forms of cancer. At the same time, the population’s access to dental services is only 60%. All this requires national governments to take decisive steps to provide affordable and quality dental services at all levels of government. In particular, the WHO Policy Declaration On Universal Health Coverage (2019) calls for the national governments of the participating States to actively develop primary patient-centered dental care by reforming the dental health system. The reform of the National Dental Health Service proposed by WHO aims to shift the focus from invasive dental treatment to prevention and non-aggressive treatment. At the same time, dental care service in Ukraine continues to remain outside the scope of the sectorial reform. Therefore, in the field of public administration of dental care for the population of Ukraine there are a number of research and methodological solutions that urgently need to be implemented in the practice of management activities in deepening the health care reform to the level of regions and municipal facilities. Their prompt solution will enable to organize the provision of affordable and high-quality dental services to the population of Ukraine at the primary level. Therefore, the reform of the national dental health system should be carried out on the basis of modern generally accepted European strategies and principles (efficiency, justice, solidarity, and effectiveness), but taking into account the current state of development of the national health care system.
All of the above confirms the relevance and necessity of the dissertation on the selected topic.
The purpose of the dissertation research is theoretical substantiation of conceptual bases for the improvement of state regulation mechanisms for the municipal sector of dental care to the population of Ukraine on the basis of identification of the new role and functions of management subjects in the conditions of deepening of the medical reform at the regional level.
To achieve the defined goal of the research, a set of research tasks has been developed and successfully implemented. The object of the study is the health care system in the context of the medical reform implementation and the local government reform in Ukraine. The subject of the study is improvement of the state regulation mechanisms of the municipal sector of dental care in Ukraine.
To achieve the purpose and tasks, the work comprehensively used modern general and specialized approaches and research methods, namely theoretical analysis of domestic and international sources, legislation and regulations on public health management and dental service; historical and logical approach to determine the public administration mechanisms in the field of dental care and approaches to their improvement; structural-functional and system analysis for the study of the institutional environment of public administration formation and implementation in relation to various parts of the national dental service operation, in particular, the study of the possibilities of public administration in the field of dental care; information and analytical research methods to assess the current state, challenges and prospects for improving public administration of the municipal sector of dental care in Ukraine; methods of scientific identification and comparative analysis of literature sources to ensure the reliability of the research results.
