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. 

A statement from the Government follows below; 

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  4th 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 2nd March 2022.