INTRODUCTION:
Effective public health workforce is important in addressing public health challenges facing all nations. However, there are critical factors that need to be addressed. Failure to consider these factors risks undermining the development of a thriving and resilient public health workforce. The purpose of this article is to outline a comprehensive model for public health workforce development. This model is relevant for public health policy makers, educational institutions and employers, among others.

METHODS:
This article draws upon lessons on public health workforce development from different countries, including India, Malawi, Sudan, Somaliland, South Africa, UK, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria. It addresses the question: “how can public health training be relevant to the local context in different countries?”. Experiences of lessons learned were gained from several years of partnership engagement by Faculty of Public Health (UK) and its partners in Africa and globally.

RESULTS:
There are six components of effective public health workforce development model. These are: 1) Defining the public health problems facing the nation. 2) Drawing up the job descriptions of the workforce that will address the problems. 3) Defining the competencies of the public health workforce. 4) Drawing up the curriculum and training programme for the public health workforce. 5) Establishing a national public health institution that accredits the public health workforce and sets standards. 6) Agreeing on the terms and conditions of of employment for staff.

CONCLUSIONS:
Effective public health workforce requires consideration of the following factors: defining public health problem, job descriptions, competencies, curriculum and training programme, accreditation and standard-setting institution, and attractive terms and conditions of employment.