Essential public health functions
Several global and regional WHO resolutions have been made on strengthening public health capacities and services, such as WHA69.1 which calls for strengthening essential public health functions (EPHFs) as a basis for improving public health practice and building resilient health systems capable of meeting Universal Health Coverage (UHC) goals.
EPHFs are critical to the sustainability of health security and UHC while aligning with other complementary development efforts. This area of work aims to promote the importance of EPHFs, their multisectoral nature, and the conceptual and operational linkages with health security, resilience, governance, and social and environmental determinants - all of which contribute to achieving UHC and health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Support to countries and regions on EPHFs includes the development of technical guidance on strengthening EPHFs; providing technical support for EPHF capacity building at national level; and promoting global efforts on EPHF in the context of health systems strengthening for sustained health systems resilience.
Technical Information
Publications
National workforce capacity for essential public health functions: Operational handbook for country-led...
Achieving and sustaining national progress towards universal health coverage, health security and the health-related Sustainable Development Goals necessitates...
Defining essential public health functions and services to strengthen national workforce capacity
The purpose of this document is to support countries in contextualizing and implementing action area 1 of the roadmap and action plan to strengthen the...
Application of the essential public health functions: an integrated and comprehensive approach to public...
Experience with public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic clearly demonstrates that weak public health capacities leave populations and health,...
Essential public health functions in Ireland
This report represents a focused review of the essential public health functions (EPHFs) in Ireland with respect to policy and planning, infrastructure,...
Regional landscape of national public health institutions in Africa and their role, scope and capacity...
This report was developed as part of a World Health Organization and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) collaboration...
Achieving and sustaining progress towards global health goals such as universal health coverage and health security requires a health and care workforce...
21st century health challenges: can the essential public health functions make a difference?: discussion...
Countries worldwide are facing complex and diverse health challenges in 21st century, and usually there is one national health system for individual and...
Since the first WHO list of essential public health functions (EPHFs) was published in 1998, EPHFs have been a recurring method used by WHO regions, Member States...
Related publications
- Reviewing essential public health functions in the Eastern Mediterranean Region post COVID-19 pandemic: a foundation for system resilience
- Essential public health functions: the key to resilient health systems
- Building the evidence base for global health policy: the need to strengthen institutional networks, geographical representation and global collaboration
- A novel approach to utilizing the essential public health functions in Ireland’s health system recovery and reform
- Towards applying the essential public health functions for building health systems resilience: a renewed list and key enablers for operationalization
- Public health and emergency workforce: a roadmap for WHO and partner contributions
- Meeting report: Health systems, International Health Regulations, and Essential Public Health Functions
- World Health Assembly Resolution 69.1 Strengthening essential public health functions in support of the achievement of universal health coverage
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