This roadmap is a statement of a collective vision to develop a shared understanding on the definition, classification and scope of work of the workforce which delivers the EPHFs, and the subsequent collaborative activities to build capacity of this workforce through competency-based education. The roadmap is developed with, and for, countries including key stakeholders such as associations of national public health institutes and schools of public health and proposes a differentiated and progressive approach for countries acknowledging varying capacities and contexts. Across the action areas, this will aid countries to benchmark themselves and assess their current situation; facilitate provision of guidance and tools; and support progress to full implementation towards a strengthened public health workforce delivering all EPHFs for UHC, health security and improved health and wellbeing. TARGET AUDIENCE: Policy-makers, health workers and key stakeholders within and outside the health sector involved in public health and emergency preparedness and response.

The Action Plan is the sub-product of the WHO guidance, 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, The action plan will serve as a workplan for WHO and partners. This publication outlines the activities and deliverables in the first two years of the Roadmap. The Action Plan provides additional information to inform the collaboration and alignment of WHO and partners’ activities.

When communities face complex public health emergencies, state local, tribal, and territorial public health agencies must make difficult decisions regarding how to effectively respond. The public health emergency preparedness and response (PHEPR) system, with its multifaceted mission to prevent, protect against, quickly respond to, and recover from public health emergencies, is inherently complex and encompasses policies, organizations, and programs. Since the events of September 11, 2001, the United States has invested billions of dollars and immeasurable amounts of human capital to develop and enhance public health emergency preparedness and infrastructure to respond to a wide range of public health threats, including infectious diseases, natural disasters, and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear events. Despite the investments in research and the growing body of empirical literature on a range of preparedness and response capabilities and functions, there has been no national-level, comprehensive review and grading of evidence for public health emergency preparedness and response practices comparable to those utilized in medicine and other public health fields. Evidence-Based Practice for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response reviews the state of the evidence on PHEPR practices and the improvements necessary to move the field forward and to strengthen the PHEPR system. This publication evaluates PHEPR evidence to understand the balance of benefits and harms of PHEPR practices, with a focus on four main areas of PHEPR: engagement with and training of community-based partners to improve the outcomes of at-risk populations after public health emergencies; activation of a public health emergency operations center; communication of public health alerts and guidance to technical audiences during a public health emergency; and implementation of quarantine to reduce the spread of contagious illness.

This document is the first in a series of four technical tools in three interconnected action areas, which aim to guide the implementation in countries for strengthening the national public health workforce to deliver essential public health functions. This handbook provides an overview; the other tools in the series focus on: defining the essential public health functions and services (action area 1); competency-based education (action area 2); and mapping and measurement of occupations (action area 3).

This handbook is an essential resource which brings into focus key advances, challenges and lessons learned in strengthening human resources for health (HRH) data and evidence as a strategic objective of implementing the Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030, the recommendations of the United Nations Secretary-General High-level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth, and in the achievement of the WHO Thirteenth General Programme of Work (2019–2023 (GPW 13) targets, for a measurable impact on population health and development. Divided into three parts, the handbook presents the complementarity between WHO Health Labour Market Analysis Guidebook and WHO handbook on national health workforce accounts (NHWA) system strengthening approach to improving the availability, quality, analysis, dissemination and use of health workforce data and evidence to inform decision-making and planning in countries. It also features the committed country efforts, catalysed by networks and partner investments, in strengthening HRH information systems and their growing success in implementing NHWA and other WHO normative tools. Contributed by the six technical working groups of the Global Health Workforce Network (GHWN) Data and Evidence hub, the handbook is aimed at HRH policy-makers and planners, to provide contemporary insight on data sources and information needs to address policy questions around health workforce development, and as part of the broader intersectoral agenda to strengthening health systems resilience.