Essential Public Health Functions and Services

What is public health and what does it do? Public health encompasses many activities and is defined as an organized process that protects and promotes physical and mental health, prevents disease, injury, disability, and premature death. Public health services are population-based, focused on improving the health status of the entire population as opposed to the treatment of individuals. In a 1988 report, the Institute of Medicine identified three core functions of public health.

  • Assessment
  • Assurance
  • Policy Development
These core functions are the foundation of public health and they are closely linked with one another in a continuous cycle.
  • The assessment function involves the collection and analysis of information to identify important health problems. These problems may involve water quality, the use of tobacco and alcohol, or the disparity in health status between the white population and racial/ethnic minorities.
  • Once the important health problems have been identified, the policy development function focuses on building coalitions that can develop and advocate for local and state health policies to address the high priority health issues.
  • The assurance function makes state and local health agencies as well as health professionals (e.g., physicians) responsible for assuring that programs and services are available to meet the high priority needs of the population.
These services and programs can be provided directly, or through other public and/or private agencies. The assurance function also involves developing the administrative capacity to manage resources efficiently, implementing prevention and health promotion programs to modify individual behavior and improve community health, and evaluating programs and services to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of these efforts. The results of measuring the impact of various intervention strategies, regulatory activities, and current health policies can be used during the next assessment process.

10 Services of Public Health:

  • Monitor health status to identify community health problems
  • Diagnose and investigate health problems and health hazards in the community
  • 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
  • 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
  • Research for new insights and innovative solutions to health problems
From the Nebraska Public Health Improvement Plan - Turning Point Initiative

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Maintained by Judy Craig Consulting - Updated: June 2005