WHO-ASPHER Competency Framework for the Public Health Workforce in the European Region
Good training is vital in our efforts to educate new generations of public health professionals who will improve and protect the health of the people we serve, and the health of our environment and planet. So, it is essential for us to define the skills and competencies needed for this life saving work. ASPHER is thus immensely proud to announce the publication of the WHO-ASPHER Competency Framework for the Public Health Workforce in the European Region, which is a result of strong collaboration between ASPHER and the WHO Regional Office for Europe Coalition of Partners to Strengthen Public Health Services in the European Region.
The Framework was developed to meet the need of member states to build public health workforce capacity. The Competency Framework can be usefully applied in numerous situations such as: developing measures to strengthen education and performance, assessing existing capacity and capability and identifying training requirements, capacity-building, analysis and monitoring, ensuring appropriate numbers, mix and distribution of staff and skills for public health teams in various contexts and arguing for sustainable investment to support workforce development, planning public health workforce, including recruitment, retention, productivity and skill mix of public health professionals and teams, developing accreditation and credentialing systems, developing job descriptions, interview questions, performance evaluation and quality assurance systems; and in fostering collaboration across disciplinary and organizational boundaries.
The Framework is a crucial document that will inform and guide the teaching, training and research, of all the schools of public health in Europe not just in curriculum, but within the context of the profession as a whole, in the philosophy and values of public health and in codes of conduct. ASPHER is particularly grateful to our Past President, Professor Kasia Czabanowska for her critical work on professionalisation and the Competency Framework.