10 Essential Public Health Services
Public Health’s mission–to promote and protect the health and well-being of people and communities–is carried out through The 10 Essential Public Health Services. The Essential Public Health Services framework describes the public health activities that all communities should undertake. Importantly, the framework provides direction to ensure that Public Health shifts policies, systems, and environmental practices, promotes improvements to the vital community conditions, prioritizes equity, and evolves a robust, modern, and capable public health system. It informs Public Health efforts both upstream to address systemic and structural barriers to health and health equity, and downstream to meet urgent needs and alleviate disparities. Through delivery of the Essential Public Health Services, Public Health helps to create the conditions that all people need to be healthy and well.
The Framework
The 10 Essential Public Health Services framework has guided Public Health for nearly 30 years. In 2020 the Essential Public Health Services were updated through a collaborative effort by the Public Health National Center for Innovations and the de Beaumont Foundation, which convened public health experts, leaders, and practitioners, including CDC, who established and supported the original framework.
