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The Position Statement: Educating the Public Health Workforce was developed to formalise the guiding principles underlying the work of the Advocacy in Action Consultation Group and subgroups. The document was developed through an in-depth collaborative process and integrates ideas and discussion points from public health academics across member institutions, including Heads of School, CAPHIA representatives, governance groups and members. Following a call for review by Heads of School and CAPHIA representatives, the draft Position Statement was revised and presented to the Board for the final stage of review, and feedback received during this process was consolidated to develop the final document. Revisions made to the Position Statement clarify CAPHIA’s role in supporting and facilitating public health education while better reflecting the nature and purpose of academic public health in line with the views of member institutions.
Click here to read the draft Position Statement
Summary of Revisions
Revision of the Position Statement centred on clarification of elements of the fundamental values underlying the guiding principles, especially in acknowledging inclusiveness and diversity within public health education. Precision of terminology and expression was also addressed to more tightly clarify statements of intent in connection to public health practice and defining the workforce. Additions were also made to describe and support specific areas of need in addressing ongoing concerns in public health education. To this end, a number of substantive additions and amendments were made to the Position Statement, including:
- Removal of specific mention of medical practitioners and addition of allied health practitioners in defining the public health workforce to better acknowledge the diversity of public health practice across sectors
- Replacement of terms such as “evidence-informed” with “critical theory-informed”
- Clarification of the use of “public health workforce” and “public health practitioner” based on the definitions stemming from the World Health Organisation’s Roadmap [1] and Action Plan [2] and CAPHIA’s contribution through the Global Network for Academic Public Health
- Clarification of the significance of minimising inequity in public health as well as the central significance of government and non-government organisations and advocacy groups, such as social justice and welfare organisations and non-profit organisations
- Acknowledgement of the importance of increased offerings surrounding the social determinants of health in public health education in order to promote better understanding of the complexities of structural factors affecting health
- Clarification of potential harm that can arise from poorly applied public health practice
- Addition of two principles that acknowledge and clarify the significance of trust-building within communities and the need to build, maintain and reinforce transparency, certainty and awareness in public health policy, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic
We extend our deepest thanks to all Heads of School, CAPHIA representatives, members of the consultation groups, institutional members and members of the Board for their time, feedback and support in the development of this document.
References
- National workforce capacity to implement the essential public health functions including a focus on emergency preparedness and response: roadmap for aligning WHO and partner contributions. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2022. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240050402
- National workforce capacity to implement the essential public health functions including a focus on emergency preparedness and response: action plan (2022–2024) for aligning WHO and partner contributions. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2022. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/363519/9789240060364-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y