Continuing Education constitutes a core activity of the American Public Health Association. The mission of the Learning and Professional Development Program Unit at the Association is to maintain and enhance professional knowledge. "To develop, maintain, and increase the competency, skills, and professional performance of practitioners through the promotion of professional development, and strengthen public health practice within the core guidelines of the public health essential services.
Membership of the APHA includes a multi-disciplinary professional audience. The LPDP continually seeks to ascertain the ongoing educational needs of its discipline-specific membership including physicians, registered nurses, certified health education specialists, those certified in public health and other public health professionals. Public health professionals are employed in a variety of settings including: government agencies, non-governmental agencies, clinical practice, academia, and industry.
The Learning and Professional Development Programs Unit will develop and modify programs to meet these changing discipline-specific educational needs (Full length Mission Statement).
To achieve its mission, the APHA Continuing Professional Education Programs has set the following goals:
- To educate the public health workforce by enhancing their knowledge and skills in public health;
- To provide managerial, programmatic, and technical support to local, state, federal, and international organizations involved in the delivery and evaluation of health services.