ABSTRACT
The Constitution of the Portuguese Republic gives every citizen the right and the responsibility to safeguard his or her health and such a right is assured through a National Health Service (NHS). The NHS is managed by the Ministry of Health, which covers the financing, administration and provision of all types of health care (primary, secondary and tertiary). There are also some specific sub-systems (civil service, military, bank, large private companies) that provide access to health care through insurance or insurance-like schemes. In 1990, the Parliament approved a new General Health Care Law, which was aimed at changing the health care system to a more decentralised and 'market-oriented' model. Demographic changes, changes in morbidity and mortality patterns, unemployment, social exclusion, increasing population mobility and rising public demands and expectations, are all present in Portugal. The main public health problems can be considered both in terms of risk factors and diseases.
