Building the public health workforce to achieve health-related development goals: Moving forward in collaboration

The public health workforce aims to improve, promote, protect, and restore the health of whole or specific populations.3 It includes those who identify, monitor, and manage population health problems; those who inform, evaluate, and advocate for appropriate health and inter-sectoral policies; as well as those who plan and manage the health system and service response to population health needs.4 While the heart of this workforce is located in government health agencies, it is also distributed through a wide range of public and private organizations, providing both direct and indirect population health services.5 The 2008 WHO report on the social determinants of health offered clear evidence of the need to strengthen public health competencies in other sectors - such as housing, agriculture, environment, and public works - in order to integrate a public health perspective into all policies, with the objective of health in all policies.6 A number of organizations have attempted to describe the complex role of public health in society, leading to frameworks for core public health practices, essential public health services, and essential public health functions.7, 8 For example, in 1997, WHO drew on an international group of public health experts to identify and prioritize a list of 37 essential public health functions.9 In 2000, the Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization adopted a resolution (CD42.R14) to support Member States in analysing the state of public health in relation to 11 essential public health functions (EPHF), with the aim of improving public health practice and infrastructure.10 These efforts demonstrate the critical need to define the scope of public health activity in measurable terms as a first step in creating performance frameworks that support the initial and continuous development of a competent and relevant public health workforce.