About public health guidance

Public health guidance makes recommendations for populations and individuals on activities, policies and strategies that can help prevent disease or improve health. The guidance may focus on a particular topic (such as smoking), a particular population (such as schoolchildren) or a particular setting (such as the workplace).

Aim of public health guidance

NICE public health guidance is aimed at public health professionals and practitioners and others with a direct or indirect role in public health within the NHS, local authorities and the wider public, voluntary, community and private sectors. The aim is to help them 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 guidance contains the recommendations and summarises the evidence behind them and is for health professionals, NHS bodies, local government and others involved either directly or indirectly in public health.
• the quick reference guide presents the recommendations in an easy-to-read format for those putting them into practice and for the general public.

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