An exercise in the application of the Essential Public Health Functions model to the area of public health competences The overall task of the Working Group on Education (WGE) is to assess and enhance the competences of the public health workforce and to foster global dialogue. This work is in line with other efforts currently underway to assess and enhance expected competences of the public health workforce as defined by public health agencies and organizations as well as by academic training institutions. Today the situation is one in which concept and implementation are circular: what the professional public health competences are (those that are needed) depend upon what the health system demands that public health professionals do; but that depends upon the public health system needs, as dictated by what the public health system itself is supposed to do. In turn, academic and professional training programs in public health must determine what competences to include in their programs. The basic assumption regarding competences for public health professionals is that they are a required, integral element in assuring delivery and successful completion of public health tasks. Those tasks are derived from the essential public health functions (EPHFs), which reflect what is expected of a public health system. Good performance measurements of these functions would in turn enable definition of a well-performing public health system. As a starting point of WGE work, the current task has been to assess the adoption of public health system concepts, such as the EPHF model, at the national level in countries across the world. After completion of the assessment phase, it is within the WGE’s scope of activity to examine those models and to advocate for the adoption of the one best suited to become globally embraced and flexible enough to be adopted by different public health systems. Workshop Goals: • Participants will be introduced to the description of a public health system as being different from a public health organization; this includes the complexity of the health system. • Participants will be able to describe the major models of public health functions/services/operations available at the moment. • Participants will be able to assess the impact of applying a system-wide model in a national environment based upon their previous experience. • Participants will be able to examine the link between public health competences and models of EPHFs and to articulate competences that should be included in public health academic and professional training. Structure: 3 Workshop Sessions (180 minutes: 60 minutes each, including reporting and wrap-up) • Description and discussion of the public health system and the existing models of essential public health functions/services/operations (term varies geographically). Included is a discussion of the relationship between, but also the differences between, a public health organization and the public health system as a whole. (This will be a plenary session for all workshop participants.) • Cross-national working group debates/discussions/dialogue regarding the existing models in light of attempted determination of which one would best serve as a basis for a global, flexible framework that could be adapted to different national environments, and thereby foster an easier global dialogue. (Depending upon the number of participants, a few working groups or one discussion for all participants, with designated facilitators for each group). • Interdisciplinary working group debates/discussions on the methods for assessing the defined workforce competences required for achieving best EPHF performance, along with the corresponding task of delineating competences to be included in public health academic and professional training. (Depending upon numbers of participants, small working groups or one discussion for all participants, with designated facilitators for each group.)