10 Essential Environmental Public Health Services

These 10 services identify the actions necessary to protect and improve environmental public health and are adapted from the 10 Essential Public Health Services and the Core Functions of Public Health. This page shows how the 10 Essential Environmental Public Health Services align with the three core functions of public health (assessment, policy development, and assurance).

Check out our Resources Organized by the Essential Services to fill performance gaps and contribute to larger performance improvement efforts such as voluntary public health accreditation.

Assessment

1. Monitor environmental and health status to identify and solve community environmental public health problems
2. Diagnose and investigate environmental public health problems and health hazards in the community

Policy Development

3. Inform, educate, and empower people about environmental public health issues
4. Mobilize community partnerships and actions to identify and solve environmental health problems
5. Develop policies and plans that support individual and community environmental public health efforts

Assurance

6. Enforce laws and regulations that protect environmental public health and ensure safety
7. Link people to needed environmental public health services and assure the provision of environmental public health services when otherwise unavailable
8. Assure a competent environmental public health workforce
9. Evaluate effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and population-based environmental public health services
10. Research for new insights and innovative solutions to environmental public health problems

To learn more about the history of these services explore our publication, Improving Environmental Public Health Services Performance to Meet Community Needs [PDF - 1.35 MB]. Also make sure to explore our Performance Improvement resource page.