Function of public health Core competencies of public health Scope of public health

1. Core competencies of Public
Health
Scope of Public Health
Sirjana Tiwari
School of Health and Allied Sciences
Pokhara University

2. Function of Public Health
1 . Assessment ‰
 Monitor health status to identify community health problems
 Diagnose and investigate health problems and health hazards in the
community and evaluate effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of
personal and population-based health services
2. Policy Development
 Inform, Educate, and Empower People About Health Issues
 Mobilize Community Partnerships to Identify and Solve Health
Problems
 Develop policies and plans that support individual and community
health efforts
 Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety.
3. Assurance
 Link people to needed personal health services and assure the
provision of health care when otherwise unavailable
 Assure a competent public health and personal health care
workforce
 Evaluate Effectiveness, Accessibility, and Quality of Personal and
Population-Based Health Services

3. Fig: Function of Public Health

4. FUNCTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Assessment ‰
Monitor health status to identify community health problems
Accurate, periodic
assessment of the
community’s health status
◦ Identification of health risks
◦ Attention to vital statistics
and disparities
◦ Identification of assets and
resources
 Use of methods and
technology (e.g., mapping
technology) to interpret and
communicate data
 Maintenance of population
health registries

5. FUNCTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Assessment ‰
Diagnose and investigate health problems and health hazards in the
community
 Timely identification
and investigation of
health threats
 Availability of
diagnostic services,
including laboratory
capacity
 Response plans to
address major health
threat

6. FUNCTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Policy Development
Inform, Educate, and Empower People About Health Issues
 Initiatives using health
education and communication
sciences to Build knowledge
and shape attitudes
 Inform decision-making choices
 Develop skills and behaviors
for healthy living
 Health education and health
promotion partnerships within
the community to support
healthy living
 Media advocacy and social
marketing

7. FUNCTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Policy Development
Mobilize Community Partnerships to Identify and Solve Health
Problems
 Constituency
development
 Identification of system
partners and
stakeholders
 Coalition development
 Formal and informal
partnerships to promote
health improvement

8. FUNCTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Policy Development
Develop policies and plans that support individual and community
health efforts
 Policy development to
protect health and guide
public health practice
 Community and state
improvement planning
 Emergency response
planning
 Alignment of resources
to assure successful
planning

9. FUNCTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Policy Development
Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety.
 Review, evaluation, and
revision of legal
authority, laws, and
regulations
 Education about laws
and regulations
 Advocating for
regulations needed to
protect and promote
health
 Support of compliance
efforts and enforcement

10. FUNCTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Assurance
Link people to needed personal health services and assure the
provision of health care when otherwise unavailable
 Identification of
populations with barriers
to care
 Effective entry into a
coordinated system of
clinical care
 Ongoing care
management
 Culturally appropriate and
targeted health
information for at risk
population groups
 Transportation and other
enabling service

11. FUNCTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Assurance
Assure a Competent Public and Personal Healthcare Workforce
 Assessing the public health
and personal health
workforce
 Maintaining public health
workforce standards
◦ Efficient processes for
licensing /credentialing
requirements
◦ Use of public health
competencies
 Continuing education and
life-long learning
◦ Leadership development
◦ Cultural competence

12. FUNCTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Assurance
Evaluate Effectiveness, Accessibility, and Quality of Personal and
Population-Based Health Services
 Evaluation must be
ongoing and should
examine
◦ Personal health
services
◦ Population based
services
◦ The public health
system
◦ Quality Improvement

13. FUNCTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Assurance
Research for New Insights and Innovative Solutions to Health
Problems
 Identification and
monitoring of
innovative solutions
and cutting-edge
research to advance
public health
 Linkages between
public health practice
and academic/research
settings
 Epidemiological
studies, health policy
analyses and public

14. CORE COMPETENCIES OF PUBLIC HEALTH
 Core competencies are the fundamental knowledge, skills
and attributes a person or organization holds that allow an
individual or company to succeed and grow.
 In the public health sector, core public health competencies
allow the workforce to operate effectively and carry out the
core function of public health including population health
assessment, monitoring, health promotion, disease and
injury prevention, health protection and emergency
preparedness.
 Some public health employers may refer to the core
competencies to develop job descriptions in postings,
performance objectives and assessment, and workforce
development plans to ensure a skilled workforce

15. CORE COMPETENCIES OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Seven core competencies of Public Health are :
1. Biostatistics
2. Environmental Health Sciences
3. Epidemiology
4. Health Policy and Management
5. Social and Behavioral Sciences
6. Critical thinking
7. Problem solving

16. Biostatistics
 Competencies in
biostatistics enable
public health
professionals to
address and solve
problems in public
health by analyzing
and interpreting
data and applying
statistical
reasoning and
methods.

17. Critical thinking

18. Problem Solving

19. Epidemiology
 Epidemiology
 Often associated with public health
and public health degree programs,
the epidemiology competency is the
ability to study diseases and injury
within populations

20. Environmental Health
Sciences
 This competency focuses on how
biological, physical and chemical
environmental factors affect human
health.

21. Health Policy and Management
 It’s the ability to use both a managerial
and a policy perspective to focus on
the delivery, accessibility, quality,
organization and health care costs for
individuals and populations.

22. Social and Behavioral
Sciences
 This competency in public health
examines how behavioral, social, and
cultural matters contribute to public
health issues.

23. Emerging public health
Competencies
1. Evidence-based approaches to
public health
2. Public health and health care
systems
3. Planning and management to
promote health
4. Policy in public health
5. Leadership
6. Communication
7. Inter-professional practice
8. Systems thinking

24. Emerging public health
Competencies
Evidence-based approaches to public
health
1) Apply epidemiological methods to the
breadth of settings and situations in public
health practice.
2) Select quantitative and qualitative data
collection methods appropriate for a given
public health context.
3) Analyze quantitative and qualitative data
using biostatistics, informatics, computer-
based programming and software, as
appropriate.
4) Interpret the results of data analysis for
public health research, policy, or practice.

25. Emerging public health
Competencies
Public health and health care systems
5) Compare the organization, structure,
and function of health care, public
health and regulatory systems across
national and international settings.
6) Discuss how structural bias, social
inequities and racism undermine health
and create challenges for achieving
health equity at the organizational,
community and societal levels.

26. Emerging public health
Competencies
Planning and management to promote
health
7) Assess population needs, assets and
capacities that affect communities’ health.
8) Apply awareness of cultural values and
practices to the design or implementation of
public health policies or programs.
9) Design a population-based policy, program,
project or intervention.
10) Explain the basic principles and tools of
budget and resource management.
11) Select methods to evaluate public health
programs.

27. Emerging public health
Competencies
Policy in public health
12) Discuss multiple dimensions of the policy-
making process, including the roles of
ethics and evidence.
13) Propose strategies to identify stakeholders
and build coalitions and partnerships for
influencing public health outcomes.
14) Advocate for political, social or economic
policies and programs that will improve
health in diverse populations.
15) Evaluate policies for their impact on public
health and health equity.

28. Emerging public health
Competencies
Leadership
16)Apply principles of leadership,
governance, and management,
which include creating a vision,
empowering others, fostering
collaboration and guiding decision
making.
17)Apply negotiation and mediation
skills to address organizational or
community challenges

29. Emerging public health
Competencies
Communication
18)Select communication strategies for
different audiences and sectors.
19)Communicate audience-appropriate
public health content, in writing and
through oral presentation.
20)Describe the importance of cultural
competence in communicating public
health content.

30. Emerging public health
Competencies
Inter-professional practice
21)Perform effectively on
interprofessional teams.
Systems thinking
22)Apply systems thinking tools to a
public health issue.

31. Scope of Public Health

32. Scope of Public Health
1. Infectious disease prevention to
chronic disease prevention,
2. Mental health
3. Bio-terrorism
4. Demography
5. Environmental health
6. Health financing
7. Addressing social determinants of
health & health policy

33. SCOPE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Infection prevention to chronic disease prevention,
 Immunization and child vaccination
 Hygiene and sanitation
 Safe food and safe water distribution
 Safe sex practice
 Screening
 Surveillance
 Outbreak investigation
 Limiting contact with infectious persons eg in outbreak
Communicable disease reporting
 Compulsory treatment orders
 Incorporating human rights protections into quarantine and
isolation laws

34. SCOPE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Infection prevention to chronic disease prevention,


35. SCOPE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Mental health
1. Mental health research
2. Examine stress, anxiety, depression,
self-harm and suicide.
3. Technology and social media and its
impacts on bullying and self-image,
issues of loneliness and isolation.

36. SCOPE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Bio-terrorism
 The use of biological weapons in war . in the middle
ages, corpses of plague victims were catapulted into
castles under siege. Near 2011 , anthrax was used to
contaminate the US postal system, resulting in several
deaths.
Scope of public health
 Identification of the event. This can be achieved by
generating awareness, having high degree of suspicion
and having a good surveillance system to assist quick
detection.
 The five phases of public health activities in dealing with
a bioterrorist attack are preparedness phase, early

37. SCOPE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Demography
Demography is concerned with this essential
‘numbering of the people’ and with understanding
population dynamics—how populations change in
response to the interplay between fertility,
mortality, and migration.
 making the forecasts about future population
size and structure to analyse of both the present
and the future necessitates a review of the past.
 The size of the population as a whole to
determine fertility, mortality ,migration etc.

38. SCOPE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Environmental health
 Hygiene promotion and sanitation plan:
Water source sanitation and hygiene Plan
Latrine management plan
Waste disposal and management plan
 Shelter planning:
Shelters will be equipped with long-lasting
insecticidal nets (LLIN)

39. SCOPE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Health financing
 Health economics and outcomes research
 Economic evaluation : Demand vs supply, Cost-
Minimization Analysis , Cost-Effectiveness Analysis,
Cost utility Analysis, Cost-benefit Analysis
 Efficient and equitable allocation of healthcare
resources in public health.

40. SCOPE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Addressing social determinants of health & health policy
1. Social determinants of health research
2. The influences and interactions of personal
characteristics (sex, age, ethnicity, disability and
hereditary factors),
3. Social and community networks (family and wider
social circles),
4. Living and working conditions (work, housing,
education), and
5. General socioeconomic, cultural and environmental
conditions (taxation, availability of work) on public
health and well-being.

41. Other Scope of public Health
 Health Promotion
 Mass media advertisement
 Campaigning on health issues
 Patient education
 Environmental safety measures .
 Public Policy issues
 Physical health
 Preventive and curative medical approach
 Health enhancing facilities in local communities
 IEC materials dissemination
 Awareness programs through various methods and
media.
 Counseling for the affected ones

42. Other Scope of public Health
 Epidemiology
 Identifying the causes of disease
 Determining the natural history of disease
 Studying the biologic spectrum of disease
 Identifying patterns and trends of disease
occurrence
 Improving the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis
of clinical disease
 Measuring the extent of disease in a population
 Determining preventable causes of disease
 Evaluating health interventions at different levels
 Setting disease control priorities in the
communities

43. Other Scope of public Health
 Biostatistics
Morbidity rate
Mortality rate
Disability rate
Percentage of the injured ones
Percentage of the infectious disease

44. Other Scope of public Health
Nutrition
 Nutritional plan will be conducted to
manage malnutrition and various nutritional
disorders.
 Safe food and water distribution plan:
especially on food insecurity areas.
 Provision of appropriate and sufficient
water containers to reduce the risk of
cholera and other diarrhoeal diseases
 Support for appropriate feeding for
malnutrition management through the
distribution of foods.

45. Other Scope of public Health
 Digital health including studies that
address digital (e-health) interventions
and their applications in public health.
We welcome research which seeks to
improve public health through the
application of novel technology at the
personal, community and global levels.
 Dental public health including studies
on the prevention and control of oral
disease and the promotion of oral health
through organised community efforts.

46. Other Scope of public Health
Disaster and emergency
preparedness and
response including studies examining
measures taken to prepare for and
reduce the effects of disasters. We
welcome research on the organization
and management of the resources and
responsibilities for dealing with all
humanitarian aspects of emergencies
(preparedness, response, mitigation,
and recovery).

47. Other Scope of public Health
Health
communication including studies
examining the use of communication
strategies to inform and influence
decisions and actions to improve health;
this includes the practice of
communicating promotional health
information, such as in public health
campaigns and public health education.

48. Other Scope of public Health
 Injury and violence prevention
including studies which address the
social and behavioral influences on
unintentional injuries, such as falls,
drowning and motor vehicle crashes
and violence such as bullying and child
maltreatment.

49. Other Scope of public Health
 Health policies, systems and
management including studies
looking at the impact of health
policies, practices and interventions
on communities in high- and low and
middle-income countries.
 Infectious disease
epidemiology including studies on
the epidemiology of infectious
diseases and the use of public health
interventions for their control.

50. Other Scope of public Health
 Maternal and child health including
studies on all aspects of maternal
public health, also going beyond
pregnancy and childbirth. We
welcome research in the field of child
and adolescent public health that seek
to help improve the complete health of
people in the age range of infants to
young adults.

51. Other Scope of public Health
 Physical activity and
health including studies examining the
relationship between physical activity
and health. We welcome research
examining how behavioral, community,
and environmental interventions may
affect physical activity on a population
level.
 Public health informatics including
studies on the use of information
technology in enabling effective
monitoring and surveillance, supporting
improved decision-making, and
improving population health.

52. Other Scope of public Health
 Public health informatics including
studies on the use of information
technology in enabling effective
monitoring and surveillance,
supporting improved decision-making,
and improving population health.

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