What careers are there in public health?

A career in public health can be very rewarding and provides opportunities to help improve people's health and wellbeing, while also helping to tackle the root causes of ill-health.

The term public health refers to the organised efforts of society to improve the health of the population through preventing ill-health, prolonging life and promoting health. A 2004 report by Derek Wanless, Securing Good Health for the Whole Population, called for a number of strategies to improve public health and reduce health inequalities, including the development of a national strategy to develop the ‘public health workforce’. 

What job sectors and employers are there in public health?

People working in public health roles can work for a wide range of local, national and international employers.

The NHS

Public health job roles within the NHS include public health consultants, public health nurses and public health managers.

Local government

Local authorities have responsibility for improving the health of their local population and for ensuring the commissioning and provision of certain public health improvement services, including behaviour change services, some sexual health services and services to support those with substance misuse issues.

Relevant job roles within local government include Directors of Public Health, knowledge and intelligence professionals, public health consultants, public health nurses, Environmental Health Practitioners, public health managers and public health practitioners.

National government

There are public health roles within the civil service across many government departments, such as within the Department of Health and Social Care, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities the UK Health Security Agency, the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorate , the Welsh governments Department for health and Social Care and the Department of Health (Northern Ireland).

Relevant job roles include public health scientists, knowledge and intelligence professionals, epidemiologists, food safety experts, policy officers and health improvement specialists. 

Higher education

This includes universities, colleges and education institutes. Examples of public health academic job roles are research assistants, research fellows, lecturers and professors.

Third sector organisations

These are non-government organisations which operate on a not-for-profit basis, including charities, charitable trusts, think tanks, social enterprises and voluntary groups.

These organisations may be involved in a wide range of public health activities such as undertaking research, providing advocacy on public health matters, implementing public health campaigns, providing educational activities or being commissioned to provide public health services.

Job roles in this sector include policy managers, policy officers, researchers, evaluators, funding managers and public health practitioners.  

The private sector

This could include organisations which are commissioned to provide services, undertake research, provide training or act as consultants. People with relevant skills and knowledge may set up their own public health consultancies.

International organisations

This includes the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and the United Nations. A number of charities also operate on a global basis. Example job roles are epidemiologists, public health consultants and emergency response planners.  

Who works in public health?

The core public health workforce

The core public health workforce is made up of people working in a role primarly classified as public health. These could include roles such as:

Health Protection

Work which protects people’s health and wellbeing, such as controlling infectious diseases, implementing food safety measures, planning emergency responses and ensuring clean water supplies.

Examples of job roles include communicable disease consultants, infection control nurses, sanitation engineers, Environmental Health Practitioners, emergency response planners and food safety consultants.

Health Improvement

This work aims to improve people’s health and wellbeing through activities such as the commissioning of health improvement and behaviour change activities, policy research and implementing health improvement campaigns, as well as individual and community-based health improvement activities.

The work can include developing and delivering campaigns and services to reduce unhealthy weight, help people to stop smoking, increase physical activity and reduce health inequalities.

Job roles include public health managers, public health specialists and public health practitioners, such as those providing weight management services, smoking cessation advisors and substance misuse workers.

Healthcare public health

This work involves improving health at a population level by preventing disease or improving health-related outcomes through healthcare interventions or treatments. Healthcare public health is also concerned with developing evidence-based healthcare services, assessing and planning health needs and ensuring equality of access to effective healthcare.

Job roles include public health nurses, health visitors, school nurses, those working in health screening, health service managers and roles within the NHS. Visit the NHS Careers website for more information. 

The wider public health workforce

The wider public health workforce is people whose paid or unpaid work is not primarily concerned with public health but nevertheless they have opportunities within their roles to support the public’s health and wellbeing.

For example, they may be able to provide somebody with written public health information, support people making a positive health behaviour change or signpost to sources of expert help and guidance.

There are many other people whose roles and interactions with the public give them opportunities to make a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of others. These include people working in the retail, hospitality and personal services sectors, teachers, architects, town planners and conservation workers.