Public Health Workforce Week

Improving public health relies on the tireless efforts of the workforce. From school nurses to food safety operatives, every single contribution helps to make our communities safer and our lives healthier. That's why RSPH works with the public health sector for Public Health Workforce Week – now in its third year. Each year, we highlight the work that goes on in the sector and the growing hurdles faced in the current climate.

This Public Health Workforce Week, 7-11th October 2024, we’re celebrating the people who make it all possible – the work they do, the challenges they face, and the support they need to do even more in the coming years.

Public Health Workforce Week 2024

A workforce fit for the future

What

will our jobs look like
in 10 to 15 years?

Who

will make up the public health workforce of the future?

How

will the climate crisis affect
public health workers?

The next ten years are set to pose major challenges for public health, as the failure to invest in prevention over recent decades further deepens health inequalities. External challenges, whether climate change or the ageing population, are set to exacerbate this trend. For the people who make up our public health system, this represents a major challenge to the realisation of their aims and ambitions.

But there is an alternative. The public health community, from international organisations to individual staff and volunteers, could mobilise and collaborate to meet the challenges on the horizon. By embedding public health principles across society and unlocking the potential of the workforce – not just as individual sectors or workers, but as a group dedicating their careers to public health – then we can ensure that the next decade is one in which everyone in the UK is supported to live happier, healthier lives.

Reports

Public Health 2040: Ageing Demographics and the Wider Public Health Workforce

Living longer can have positive outcomes for our society, but it also means that we must prepare for the ways in which this will change the delivery of public health in the UK over the coming years.

Public Health 2040: How Technology and AI is Reshaping the Wider Public Health Workforce

New technologies like AI are developing rapidly. They could be useful for the wider public health workforce, but we need to ensure that they are used appropriately.

Public Health 2040: Health Protection in a Warming World

Our climate is changing. How can we support the wider public health workforce to deal with it?

Watch the webinar

In the face of a fast-changing world, public health and prevention are more important than ever, but also need more support than ever to deliver better outcomes for the public. Join us to discuss the challenges facing the public health sector, from climate change to an ageing society, and what more can be done to support the wider public health workforce to meet these head on.

Get involved

Find out more about how you can get involved in Public Health Workforce Week 2024 here:

Public Health Workforce Week 2024: Get involved