Public Health professions about their future: ’action, across borders, and front for citizens’

Extract

Representatives of four public health disciplines discuss the position and capacity of their professions in the perspective of Dutch health strategy, which is strongly focusing on integrated approaches and connecting prevention and primary care. Epidemiologists successfully laid the foundation for evidenced-based working in public health on the regional level, but investments are needed in methodology and competency development as well as in multidisciplinary and intersectoral cooperation to hold its fundamental role in the regional Community Health Services. Civilian responses to recent epidemics and a new HPV-vaccination programme brought risk communication to the attention of infectious disease professionals reconsidering civilian-professional interaction. Youth health care as a social medicine profession is in a process of integrating with other youth care disciplines into Public Care for Youth and organizationally into Centers for Child and Family. …