About public health guidance

NICE produces two types on guidance on public health:

• Public health intervention guidance makes recommendations on clear activities (interventions) to promote a healthy lifestyle or reduce the risk of developing a disease or condition. For example, giving advice in GP's offices to encourage exercise
• Public health programme guidance deals with broader activities for promoting good health and preventing ill health. This guidance may focus on a topic (such as smoking), particular population (such as young people) or a particular setting (such as the workplace). For example: strategies to improve the diet and nutrition of mothers and infants

Aim of public health guidance

NICE public health guidance aims to help public health professionals and practitioners in local government and NHS organisations achieve the targets set out in the 2004 white paper ‘Choosing Health: making healthy choices easier´.

Implementing public health guidance

Information on using NICE guidance to promote health and wellbeing, especially for people working with local communities, is available in this leaflet

Versions of public health guidance

NICE produces two versions of its public health guidance:

• the full guidance is written for health professionals, NHS bodies, local government and wider public health audiences using suitable language for people without specialist medical knowledge.
• the quick reference guide presents recommendations in a suitable format for those responsible for implementing the guidance in the wider public health arena and the general public. They are written using language suitable for people without specialist medical knowledge.

Read more about