The 10 Essential Public Health Services

As part of The Futures Initiative: the 10 Essential Public Health Services, the de Beaumont Foundation, Public Health National Center for Innovations, and a Task Force of public health experts revealed a revised version of the 10 Essential Public Health Services on September 9, 2020. The framework now centers equity and incorporates current and future public health practice. A recording of the launch event, including the Q&A, is available for viewing.

Update your organization's website materials and educational tools and help spread the word today by utilizing information found in the free toolkit.

The original 10 Essential Public Health Services (EPHS) framework was developed in 1994 by a federal working group. It serves as the description of the activities that public health systems should undertake in all communities. Organized around the three core functions of public health – assessment, policy development, and assurance – the colorful, circular framework is a familiar graphic in the public health field. Health departments and community partners around the nation organize their work around the EPHS framework, schools and programs of public health teach it, and the framework informs descriptions and definitions of practice. The framework is also used as the basis of the Public Health Accreditation Board Domains.

The framework has provided a roadmap of goals for carrying out the mission of public health in communities around the nation. However, the public health landscape has shifted dramatically over the past 25 years, and many public health leaders agreed it was time to revisit how the framework can better reflect current and future practice and how it can be used to create communities where people can achieve their best possible health.

The Futures Initiative, a partnership between the de Beaumont Foundation, PHNCI, and a Task Force of public health experts, formed in Spring 2019 to bring the Essential Services national framework in line with current and emerging public health practice needs. This effort engaged the public health field through a variety of input opportunities, including live crowdsourcing events, in-person and virtual townhalls, think tank discussions, and open questionnaires. All direct feedback on the Essential Services and how they might be revised was considered, resulting in a revised version of the 10 EPHS that now centers equity and incorporates concepts relevant to current and future public health practice.