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.