Dear Mr. President,
dear fellow ministers,
Your Excellencies Ambassadors and members of diplomatic corps,
dear guests,
dear colleagues,
ladies and gentlemen,

It is a particular pleasure to be able to address you on the occasion of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the “Andrija Štampar” School of Public Health in Zagreb.

I presume you are all acquainted with the greatness, humanity and importance of the person of Andrija Štampar and therefore, I would like to begin with something different, very close to me personally. I would like to remind you of the long public health tradition of my home town. Way back in the 14th century Dubrovnik was the first port town in the world to place travellers into quarantine. They would, along with their merchandise, spend some time in specially built premises “outside the town walls”. This oldest anti-epidemiologic measure, the provision on quarantine isolation, is undoubtedly the most important contribution of Croats to the world’s medieval health culture.

It is most likely that this particular centuries-long tradition contributed to the fact that throughout the war in Croatia we did not witness to a single epidemic. One should be reminded here that the migration of refugees and displaced people was enormous at the time.

The top priority among health problems in Croatia are now chronic non-infectious diseases. The leading cause of death are cardiovascular diseases which account for 53.2% of the total death rate in 2000.

The Ministry of Health of the Republic of Croatia states as the prinicipal goal of its policy the protection and improvement of health as well as the reduction of morbidity and mortality along with the longer life expectancy and improvements in quality of life, for the population as a whole as well as individuals. In order to achieve this goal it is necessary to continuously conduct preventive activities, such as promotion of healthy lifestyles. Specifically, it implies raising the awareness of people through public health projects such as “Healthy Food”, “Walking to Health”, “Say YES to Non-Smoking”, “STOP AIDS”, “Prevention and Early Diagnosis of Cancer”, “Women’s Health” and others.

Public health is what really can help to a large number of people and protect as well as improve their health. A health care system should be based on public health measures. This point has been clearly demonstrated to me particularly since I became minister of health.

So, coming from Dubrovnik and having been educated in the “Andrija Štampar” School of Public Health, I am bound to implement the best from the two entities and to keep recognizing public health as a key to improving health.

Viewing the world with our eyes open enabled us to be the first ones to apply public health measures, such as quarantine, and to do so for the welfare of the Croatian population.

In the past Mr. Andrija Štampar used to go to China, but for today’s Croatia it is sufficient to go to the countries of southeastern Europe. By this I mean primarily the countries parties in the Stability Pact, where I see Croatia as a leading country, not only in public health, but in the improvement of overall health in the region. Croatia can and wishes to give to others all the good it has.
That is why I also see the continuation of my own career precisely in public health.

And eventually, I believe this very combination of the “Andrija Štampar” School of Public Health and Dubrovnik is a combination of two good and powerful symbols of the public health of Croatia which have been and will continue to be good beacons towards health improvement.