The 10 Essential Public Health Services

The 10 Essential Public Health Services (EPHS) provide a framework for public health to protect and promote the health of all people in all communities. To achieve equity, the EPHS actively promote policies, systems, and overall community conditions that enable optimal health for all, and seek to remove systemic and structural barriers that have resulted in health inequities. Such barriers include poverty, racism, gender discrimination, ableism, and other forms of oppression. Everyone should have a fair and just opportunity to achieve optimal health and well being.

Updated EPHS Graphic

The framework is organized around three core public health functions:

  1. Assessment - finding out what the problem is
  2. Policy Development - doing something about it
  3. Assurance - evaluating whether or not it worked

In order to achieve those core functions, the 10 EPHS were developed that detail the activities public health should be actively engaging in in their communities.

The EPHS framework was originally developed and released in 1994 and has served as a well-recognized framework for carrying out the mission of public health for the past 25 years. The framework was recently updated in 2020 to reflect the dramatic shift in the public health landscape over the past 25 years. The update brings the framework in line with current and future public health practice.

The update was a result of a collaborative effort by the Public Health National Center for Innovations (PHNCI), the de Beaumont Foundation, and a task force of public health experts, leaders, practitioners, and experts from federal agencies. Further details about the process to update the EPHS, along with accompanying materials, can be found in Additional Resources (last page of this training).

 

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Print or save the full updated detailed text of the CDC's 10 Essential Public Health Services.

Before moving on, review the CDC document and consider which essential services you most often provide in your community. Think about whether or not equity and social determinants of health (SDOH) are taken into consideration.

The revised 10 EPHS were released on September 9, 2020. The updated framework now centers around equity and is in line with current and future public health practice.

 

 

Please take a moment to check your knowledge about the EPHS.