Essential public health functions (EPHF) are primary responsibility of the state and are fundamental for achieving public health goals through collective action. There are several EPHF frameworks that have core and enabling functions, which should be integrated within health systems. The preferred approach is to identify the framework that best suits the local context. International Health Regulation (IHR) are legally binding set of regulations meant to prevent international spread of diseases and are closely related to EPHF. EPHF focus on building capacity for public health nationally, while IHR respond to the obligations of public health globally. This Chapter makes a case for investing in public health as an obligation and an ethical and moral imperative of governments in every country by ensuring well performing EPHF and IHR.

The principles of public health promotion have been outlined in previous chapters within this textbook. Planning, implementation and evaluation should be viewed as three equally necessary and complementary components of any public health program. This chapter provides an introduction to planning and evaluation with respect to public health promotions and interventions. This chapter focuses primarily on overarching concepts. It identifies a simple, six-stage public health planning model that assists project teams to move from the initial identification of a need through implementation to assessment of the outcomes, with the evaluation also identifying any needs that remain partially or completely unmet. The concepts of planning and evaluation should be viewed as part of an ongoing process; the planning of public health interventions should be informed through reviewing outcomes of relevant previous projects while the evaluation phase should then provide observations and recommendations for future programs.