Global knowledge network for public health workforce: Innovative approach to strengthen public health capacity worldwide

Further development of public health capacity is critical. As WHO noted in the World Health Report 2006 (WHR 2006), the world is facing a major shortage of health workers including those who are trained to address population health. This report confirmed that information is available about the distribution of physicians, nurses, midwifes and dentists, but little is known about public and environmental health workers, community health workers and health managers. The challenge is to scale up the production of public health professionals with adequate skills and competencies. The skills and competencies of public health graduates have to be better matched to the task of addressing population's health needs, including the areas such as health information management, health policy, health management and leadership.
To meet these challenges, it is essential to facilitate strategic change by using innovative approaches, including networking as well as increasing potential of information and communications technology (ICT). An intersectoral global public health community supported by the ICT can better assure the health of communities and improve the performance of health systems by getting the right knowledge to the right people, at the right time and in the right form.

Knowledge Management for Public Health (KM4PH) is a global knowledge sharing network for public health workforce initiated in December 2005 by the World Health Organization in close collaboration with the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) and other key international, regional and national public health partners, including the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI), European Public Health Association (EUPHA),Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) and the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH). KM4PH with its communities of practices supports better knowledge transfer and information sharing in a view to improve global health and to achieve Millennium Development Goals.