Tools and instruments

Countries need to be able to identify their public health needs and assess the effectiveness of their public health services in addressing those needs and promoting the health of their populations. WHO Europe’s Health for All strategy has been an important tool in that regard.

Over the past 10 to 20 years, the number of public health policy statements, strategies and other policy instruments developed by WHO at global and European level has increased substantially, with an increasing tendency to use legally binding instruments, in particular at global level, such as the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the International Health Regulations.

A recent publication on public health policy and legislation instruments and tools reviews the legislative instruments and tools currently in place for delivering the EPHOs in the WHO European Region, underpinning and complementing the European Action Plan for Strengthening Public Health Capacities and Services. It provides initial findings on the wide spectrum of legal and policy frameworks at regional and global levels by mapping the available public health tools and instruments across the 10 EPHOs.

The annex to the publication contains a resource table that lists legal policy tools and instruments available for use in the European Region according to the 10 EPHOs.

A range of relevant WHO tools and instruments related to each of the Essential Public Health Operations can be found on the individual EPHO webpages.