The Director of Public Health will be introducing a Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) plan for the future approach to public health in Gibraltar over the next 12 months. The JSNA is vital in order to be able to identify and evidence Gibraltar’s health needs, unmet needs and horizon-scan future challenges. The brief overview of the 4 work streams will be:

1. Joint Strategic Needs Assessment
2. Public Health Strategy
3. Development of a public health delivery plan
4. Mapping of national public health functions and International Health Regulation

The JSNA will be developed in collaboration with key stakeholders across the different Government departments as well as outside organisations to develop a public health strategy.

The JSNA will have two main sections that will capture who we are and what affects how well and how long we live. In conjunction, data will be developed to describe the wider determinants of health, lifestyle factors, morbidity indicators and the final section aims to describe an Asset-based approach.

Inter-dependent upon these 3 work streams of JSNA, strategy and delivery plan development is the 4^th work stream of mapping of the current public health function in Gibraltar against the 11 core functions of the International Association of National Public Health Institute.

Minister for Public Health, John Cortes commented: “The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how important it is to maintain the health standards of the community, and how vulnerable we can all be.  It is vitally important that we make use of the lessons learnt. I very much welcome this initiative of the Director of Public Health, which will bring great benefits to us all.”

The first meeting of the JSNA will take place on Wednesday 2^nd March 2022.

ENDS