U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Competencies for Public Health Professionals

About this resource:

Non-Systematic Review

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Last Reviewed: May 2024

Workgroups: Public Health Infrastructure Workgroup

This Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) webpage offers information and resources on competencies for public health professionals. Competencies are the knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors that contribute to individual and organizational performance. 

Public health agencies and organizations can use competencies to:

  • Develop job descriptions
  • Assess knowledge and skills that contribute to job performance
  • Identify critical gaps in training
  • Create career paths
  • Inform workplace development plans
  • Support efforts to meet accreditation standards
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Objectives related to this resource (3)

Increase the proportion of state and territorial public health agencies that use core competencies in continuing education — PHI‑06
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of local public health agencies that use core competencies in continuing education — PHI‑07
Target met or exceeded
Increase the proportion of tribal public health agencies that use core competencies in continuing education — PHI‑09
Baseline only

Suggested Citation

1.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024). Competencies for Public Health Professionals. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/public-health-gateway/php/our-work/public-health-professionals-competencies.html.