Professor at the Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (FGV/EBAPE), Sonia Fleury, launched yesterday, June 2, at the 30th National Congress of Municipal Health Offices the book Democracia e Inovação na Gestão Local de Saúde? (Democracy and Innovation in Local Health Management), in the booth of the National Council of Municipal Health Offices (CONASEMS).Divided into two parts, the work was coauthored by the masters in Public Administration, Assis Mafort Ouverney and Felipe Barbosa Zani, the Doctor in Social Psychology, Renato Cezar Möller, and the Master in Political Science, Thais Soares Kronemberger. The publication was carried out by Editora Fiocruz and coedited with Cebes - the Brazilian Center for Health Studies - and originated in a project that, over a decade, analyzed the changes in the profile of managers, management and patterns of innovation dissemination of municipal health offices. The overall objective of the research was to investigate the impact of the health decentralization process and its indicators in the democratization of local governments in Brazil. On the issue of innovation, the study showed improvements in care, which refers to the care programs implemented locally, but identified management difficulties, associated with efficiency and productivity issues.In the survey, a comparison was made between the most and least innovative municipalities, and thus, it was possible to identify some variables that favor and others that block innovation.  The advances in the care environment reveal the encouraging role of the central government and indicate the importance of the Ministry of Health to use the same mechanisms to encourage innovation and the dissemination of management innovations, suggests Sonia Fleury.The data collection instruments were designed in order to measure two key aspects: diversification (of the manager's profile) and innovation (of the institutional design and the dynamics of the office's operation). In the case of innovation, it was divided into three components: social (on the relations between state and society, participation and social control); management (on efficiency and productivity issues); and care (on the care programs implemented locally).In Sonia's opinion, the great merit of the book is to present an innovative methodological basis for the analysis of the decentralization process. The most important product we can offer to all is a methodological basis for the study of the decentralization process, in order to understand its dynamics and relations with the democratization of local governments and with innovation in local management, she said.The 30th National Congress of Municipal Health Offices will take place until tomorrow, June 4, in the city of Serra, in Espírito Santo state.