Public health serves communities and individuals within them by providing an array of essential services. Many of these services are invisible to the public. Typically, the public only becomes aware of the need for public health services when a problem develops (e.g., an epidemic occurs). The practice of public health becomes the list of "essential services."

Monitor health status to identify and solve community health problems: This service includes accurate diagnosis of the community¹s health status through timely collection, analysis, and publication of information on access, utilization, costs, and outcomes of personal health services.

Diagnose and investigate health problems and health hazards in the community: This service includes epidemiologic identification of emerging health threats and technical capacity for epidemiologic investigation of disease outbreaks and patterns of chronic disease and injury.

Inform, educate, and empower people about health issues: This service involves social marketing and targeted media public communication to reinforce health promotion messages and programs.

Mobilize community partnerships and action to identify and solve health problems: This service involves skilled coalition-building to draw upon the full range of potential human and material resources in the cause of community health.

Develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts: This service requires development of codes, regulations and legislation to guide the practice of public health.

Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety: This service involves full enforcement of sanitary codes, especially in the food industry; full protection of drinking water supplies; enforcement of clean air standards; timely follow-up of hazards, preventable injuries, and exposure-related diseases identified in occupational and community settings; monitoring quality of medical services (e.g. laboratory, nursing homes, and home health care); and timely review of new drug, biologic, and medical device applications.

Link people to needed personal health services and assure the provision of health care when otherwise unavailable: This service includes assuring effective entry for socially disadvantaged people into a coordinated system of clinical care.

Assure a competent public and personal health care workforce: This service includes education and training for personnel to meet the needs for public and personal health service and efficient processes for licensure of professionals and certification of facilities.

Evaluate effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and population-based health services: This service calls for ongoing evaluation of health programs to assess program effectiveness.

Research for new insights and innovative solutions to health problems: This service includes continuous linkage with appropriate institutions of higher learning to conduct needed health services research.