Abstract:

To effectively operate in the 21st century, professionals must possess appropriate skills and competencies, including those for lifelong learning. The professional development of public health leaders requires competency-based instruction to increase their ability to address complex and changing demands for critical services. Both American and European surveys assert that public health programmes lack modernity and fail to provide adequate leadership education. Leadership is still not common in most public-health training programs at either undergraduate, postgraduate or continuous professional development (CPD) levels.

Aim of the study:
To analyze the current literature and European and American frameworks on the key competencies for leadership in Public Health.

The literature review:
Many papers regarding the need for Public Health leaders can be found in the current literature. There is a number of frameworks of leadership competencies of PH specialists.

WHO Regional Office for Europe has developed the list of 10 Essential Public Health Operations (EPHO). “Leadership, governance and initiation, development and planning of public health policy’” was included in the tentative list of EPHO, and “Strategic leadership for health” was also mentioned among 10 key areas of public health practice in this WHO document.

In Europe, in 2013 the Association of the Schools of Public Health in the European Region Working Group on Innovation in Public Health Teaching and Education developed a framework consisting of 52 competencies organized into eight domains: Systems Thinking; Political Leadership; Collaborative Leadership: Building and Leading Interdisciplinary Teams; Leadership and Communication; Leading Change; Emotional Intelligence and Leadership in Team-based Organizations; Leadership, Organizational Learning and Development and Ethics and Professionalism. The framework can serve as a useful tool in identifying gaps in knowledge and skills, and shaping competency-based continuing professional development leadership curricula for public health professionals in Europe.

The most recognized set of competencies for public health leadership in the USA is the Leadership for Community Health, Safety and Resilience Competency Framework of the National Public Health Leadership Development Network (NLN). The NLN framework includes 20 domains and more than 200 competencies.

However European and American Public Health leadership competencies frameworks differ, universal key competencies comprise team-oriented skills, such as good communication and team-building.

Keywords:

Public health, leadership, competencies frameworks, essential competencies, key competencies.