Health and wellbeing Department of Public Health

Our responsibility for public health

The council is responsible for promoting and protecting the health and wellbeing of people in the city. We have a range of public health functions, but there are five specific responsibilities described by law:

  • Helping protect people from the dangers of communicable diseases and environmental threats.
  • Organising and paying for sexual health services.
  • Providing specialist public health advice to primary care services: for example GPs and community health professionals.  
  • Organising and paying for height and weight checks for primary school children.
  • Organising and paying for regular health checks for Manchester people.

Examples include giving advice on alcohol and drug misuse, helping people stop smoking, advising on obesity and diet, and promoting physical activity, better nutrition and healthy lifestyle.

We coordinate initiatives to improve mental health, and the health of children and young people, and raise awareness about health at work and preventing injuries.

We also carry out a range of research and intelligence activities to support commissioning and other work designed to tackle the scale of health inequalities found in Manchester, including leading the production of the statutory Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) for Manchester and the publication of a bi-annual Compendia of Statistics.

We regularly produce reports and strategies in response to public health need across the city.

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