Background

The WHO European Region has made great progress in reducing the burden of noncommunicable diseases but gains still need to be accelerated. COVID-19 and climate change have added new challenges, revealing continued vulnerabilities and inequalities and demonstrating the continuing threat from infectious disease and environmental degradation. Building the capacity of the public health workforce is key to achieving better health for populations and for the planet, however, few countries in the WHO European Region have sought to build the capacity of the public health workforce through professionalization.

Aim and Objectives

This Road Map offers pragmatic recommendations for action to professionalize the public health workforce as a response to growing public health needs; it puts forward levers that can be engaged to do so. It embraces, by necessity, a cross-sectoral and cross-disciplinary approach that provides clarity about the scope and the specific competencies required, identifies key action areas for professionals and identifies the roles of the various actors needed to shift towards a more cross-disciplinary response to population health challenges.

Expected outcomes

This Road Map offers the clarity required for countries to justify investing in the professionals who make up the public health workforce, by financing their training, employment and continuous capacity-building, as well as establishing the resources and legal/professional frameworks required to develop and secure this workforce.

It will be useful for a range of stakeholders who have important roles and insight around improving public health, including governments, ministries, national, regional and local health authorities as well as public health training institutions, public health institutes, professional organizations and employers of the public health workforce.

Seminar objectives

The seminar will introduce the Road Map and how it will be used with different stakeholders. Plans for its roll out will be explained with the use of country toolkits. Synergies with other relevant projects and professionalization efforts will be identified at the European Region and Global levels. A dialog will be held over the public health and primary health care interface. Opportunities for enhanced advocacy efforts and possible follow up webinar series will be explored.

The WHO Regional Office for Europe and ASPHER are pleased to invite government officials, institutes of public health, ministries of health, public health authorities, professional organizations, schools and training centres for public health, employers and public health and health professionals to the launch webinar of this Roadmap to reflect on the need for professionalization of the public health workforce and discuss the way forward.

Seminar Programme

12:00   Opening and welcome address

Natasha Azzopardi Muscat, WHO

John Middleton, ASPHER

12:10   Road Map to Professionalizing the Public Health

Katarzyna Czabanowska, Maastricht University / ASPHER

12:20 Discussion and reflections on the way forward

Daniela Kállayová, Ministry of Health, Slovak Republic

Maggie Rae, Faculty of Public Health, UK

Nataliia Piven, WHO Country Office, Ukraine

Jose M Martin-Moreno, University of Valencia, Spain

Farhang Tahzib, Faculty of Public Health, UK

Nadav Davidovitch, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

Laura Magaña, Global Network for Academic Public Health

Moderated by Tomas Zapata, WHO

12:50 Closing Address

Natasha Azzopardi Muscat, WHO

John Middleton, ASPHER

Download the event flyer here

Registration required! Register here: 

https://who.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_FLTrFMhPQyy-tte41L3wVA