Professional Public Health Practice in Spain - Insights from the Spanish Public Health White Paper

ISSUE/PROBLEM: The public health professionals has gained attention during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the weakness of Spain's public health structures has been exposed during the crisis, which is partly due to the delay in modernising institutions and the low percentage of GDP dedicated specifically to theses public health institutions. In addition, there is a lack of specific training for public health practitioners to acquire the necessary multidisciplinary competences for high quality public health practice. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM: The Spanish Society of Public Health and Health Administration (SESPAS) has developed a white paper of the public health profession. The main objective is to contribute to strengthening the professional practice of public health by identifying some of its problems and agreeing on possible solutions. The specific objectives were to frame public health as a profession, to describe the socio-demographic characteristics of the people affiliated to the associations federated in SESPAS, to carry out a qualitative analysis of the discourse of public health professionals on its meaning, and developing conclusions and recommendations to address public health challenges. RESULTS: The demographic and employment data of the 3,467 people belonging to seven SESPAS societies show that, overall, about 60% are women and 40% were under 50 years of age. Undergraduate degrees were Medicine (35.9 %), Nursing (17.4 %) and Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine (10.4 %), other life science degrees (4.3 %). Key aspects of the meaning of public health, training, employability and career and institutionalisation of public health were collected through 19 interviews and 6 focus groups. LESSONS: In order to agree on the conclusions and recommendations, a meeting was organised with the participation of 29 members of SESPAS. A total of 25 conclusions and 24 recommendations were drawn. KEY MESSAGES: • White paper is a step forward in the strengthening of public health in Spain. • Public health should develop leadership and advocacy skills for people's health from a multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral practice.