Several global and regional WHO resolutions have been made on strengthening public health capacities and services, such as WHA69.1 which calls for strengthening essential public health functions (EPHFs) as a basis for improving public health practice and building resilient health systems capable of meeting Universal Health Coverage (UHC) goals. 

EPHFs are critical to the sustainability of health security and UHC while aligning with other complementary development efforts. This area of work aims to promote the importance of EPHFs, their multisectoral nature, and the conceptual and operational linkages with health security, resilience, governance, and social and environmental determinants - all of which contribute to achieving UHC and health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The WHO Fourteenth General Programme of Work 2025–2028 defines an output on strengthening national institutional capacity for essential public health functions to improve health system resilience.

Support to countries and regions on EPHFs includes the development of technical guidance on strengthening EPHFs; providing technical support for EPHF capacity building at national level; and promoting global efforts on EPHF in the context of health systems strengthening for sustained health systems resilience. 

The unified list of essential public health functions includes 12 functions:

• Public health surveillance and monitoring: Monitoring and surveillance of population health status, risk, protective and promotive factors, threats to health, and health system performance and service utilization
• Public health emergency management: Managing public health emergencies for international and national health security
• Public health stewardship: Establishing effective public health institutional structures, leadership, coordination, accountability, regulations and laws
• Multisectoral planning, financing and management for public health: Supporting effective and efficient health systems and multisectoral planning, financing and management for public health
• Health protection: Protecting populations against health threats, for example environmental and occupational hazards and communicable and noncommunicable diseases, including mental health conditions, food insecurity, and chemical and radiation hazards
• Disease prevention and early detection: Prevention and early detection of communicable and noncommunicable diseases, including mental health conditions and injuries
• Health promotion: Promoting health and well-being as well as actions to address the wider determinants of health and inequity
• Community engagement and social participation: Strengthening community engagement, participation and social mobilization for health and well-being
• Public health workforce development: Developing and maintaining an adequate and competent public health workforce
• Health service quality and equity: Improving appropriateness, quality and equity in provision of and access to health services
• Public health research, evaluation and knowledge: Advancing public health research and knowledge development
• Access to and utilization of health products, supplies, equipment and technologies: Promoting equitable access to and rational use of safe, effective and quality-assured health products, supplies, equipment and technologies 

• Governance for public health across health and allied sectors: a scoping review
• Conceptually mapping how investing in essential public health functions (EPHFs) and common goods for health (CGH) can improve health system performance
• Reviewing essential public health functions in the Eastern Mediterranean Region post COVID-19 pandemic: a foundation for system resilience
• Cross-border public health in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion: applying a cross-border lens to the Essential Public Health Functions Framework
• Essential public health functions: the key to resilient health systems
• Building the evidence base for global health policy: the need to strengthen institutional networks, geographical representation and global collaboration
• A novel approach to utilizing the essential public health functions in Ireland’s health system recovery and reform
• Towards applying the essential public health functions for building health systems resilience: a renewed list and key enablers for operationalization
• Public health and emergency workforce: a roadmap for WHO and partner contributions
• Meeting report: Health systems, International Health Regulations, and Essential Public Health Functions
• World Health Assembly Resolution 69.1 Strengthening essential public health functions in support of the achievement of universal health coverage