Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) is an independent, multi-disciplinary charity concerned with the improvement of the public's health. RSPH's Chief Executive is William Roberts, while its current president is Professor Lord Patel of Bradford; current vice presidents are

Natasha Kaplinsky Natasha Margaret Kaplinsky (born 9 September 1972)The Donor, News and information for blood donors, Winter 2009, National Blood Service, England, page 55 is an English newsreader, TV presenter and journalist, best known for her roles as a st ...

OBE, Professor Bola Owolabi and

Michael Sheen Michael Christopher Sheen (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage roles in ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1992), ''Don't Fool wi ...

OBE. It has a

Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...

, and is governed by a Council of Trustees, all of whom are RSPH members.

History

The Sanitary Institute was established in 1876 following the landmark

Public Health Act Public Health Act is a stock short title used in the United Kingdom for legislation relating to public health. List *The Public Health Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 63) *The Sanitary Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. 90) is sometimes called the Public Healt ...

of 1875. In 1904, it was tagged Royal Sanitary Institute which name it held until 1955. The Sanitary Institute was created during a period of great change within the areas of

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

provision and sanitary reform to which it contributed significantly. During its first fifty years, the (Royal) Sanitary Institute became the leading public health organization both in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and the rest of the world. It was soon renowned for events and conferences on pioneering and topical issues, and developed qualifications for people working in public health professions. It established a meat and food inspection course in 1896, and in 1899 a separate meat inspectors examination. In 1955, the name was changed to Royal Society of Health. By the 1950s, the Society was a leading authority in its field, and was regularly consulted by governments and the international press on health-related issues. Since the 1970s, the Society has focused its activities on the most successful areas of its work - examinations, certification, and the journals ''

Public Health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

'' and ''

Perspectives in Public Health ''Perspectives in Public Health'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed medical journal that covers the field of public health. It is practice oriented and is published on behalf of the Royal Society for Public Health by SAGE Publications. History The jour ...

''. RSPH was formed with the merger of Royal Society of Health and

Royal Institute of Public Health Royal Institute of Public Health merged in 2008 with the Royal Society for Health to form Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH). History The institute was the amalgamation of a few societies. The Metropolitan Association of Medical Officers o ...

in October 2008, under a previous Chief Executive, Professor Richard Parish, CBE. Royal Society of Health was also known as the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health. Today, RSPH is the longest-established public health organisation in the United Kingdom. It is incorporated by

completely independent of government and of any special interest. Members are academics, health professionals and practitioners who share an interest in promoting health through their daily work, and come together through RSPH membership to provide cross-cutting, multi-disciplinary perspectives on current health questions.

Membership

RSPH has a membership of over 5,000 public health professionals, with representation from over 90 countries worldwide, encompassing a wide range of sectors and roles including health promotion, medicine, environmental health and food safety trainers. Membership is open to anyone working in the area of public health or with an interest in it. It is a widely recognised mark of commitment to public health and brings real professional benefits. There are four grades of RSPH membership, each aimed at supporting public health professionals at the different stages of their careers: Student; Associate (AMRSPH); Member (MRSPH); and Fellow (FRSPH).

Qualifications

RSPH provides a wide range of vocationally related qualifications. Around 40,000 students qualify through a network of UK-wide registered training centres in qualifications in the following subjects: * Anatomical pathology technology *

Built environment The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human ac ...

Emergency planning An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

Food safety Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, food processing, preparation, and food storage, storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a simi ...

HACCP Hazard analysis and critical control points, or HACCP (), is a systematic preventive approach to food safety from biological hazard, biological, chemical hazard, chemical, and physical hazards in production processes that can cause the finished ...

Health and safety Occupational safety and health (OSH) or occupational health and safety (OHS) is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at work (i.e., while performing duties required by one's occupation). OSH is re ...

* Health improvement *

Meat inspection Meat inspection is a crucial part of food safety measures and encompasses all measures directed towards the prevention of raw and processed meat spoilage. Relevant regulations include: * Federal Meat Inspection Act * Wholesome Meat Act Thes ...

Nutrition Nutrition is the biochemistry, biochemical and physiology, physiological process by which an organism uses food and water to support its life. The intake of these substances provides organisms with nutrients (divided into Macronutrient, macro- ...

Pest control Pest control is the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest (organism), pest; such as any animal, plant or fungus that impacts adversely on human activities or environment. The human response depends on the importance of the da ...

Practice management Practice management is the term used in General practice for the person who manages the finance and administration of a doctor's office or an office of a medical professional in one of many types of specialties in medicine. This is distinct from ...

* Young Health Champions Recognised and regulated to award accredited qualifications by the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual),

Qualifications Wales Qualifications Wales () is a Welsh Government sponsored body, responsible for the recognition of awarding bodies and the review and approval of non-degree qualifications in Wales. It was established by the Qualifications Wales Act 2015 and beca ...

and the

Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment (CCEA) is an awarding body in Northern Ireland. It develops and delivers qualifications, including GCSE, GCSEs, A-level, AS, and A-level, A Levels, and provides curriculum support and ass ...

(CCEA).

Conferences and training

RSPH hosts an annual programme of conferences, webinars, events and training in subjects including water hygiene, infection control, food safety and mental wellbeing. RSPH also runs a two-week intensive preparation course for the Faculty of Occupational Medicine's Diploma exam.

Accreditation

RSPH has been running accreditation services continuously since 1904, endorsing products, services and more recently campaigns, which contribute to improvements in hygiene, public health and safety. It has three accreditation services: one for campaigns, one for training programmes and one for university modules, which are either in-house or provided by third sector organisations. The common theme is maintaining high standards of hygiene, public health and safety.

Campaigning

Public health encompasses all aspects of health protection and health promotion and this is reflected throughout RSPH's projects, policy work, reports and campaigns. Campaigns include: * Health on the High Street. The objective of this campaign was to help businesses and local authorities to improve the health of their communities. * Life on Debt Row. Backed by a report examining the effect of debt on health and wellbeing, this campaign called for action from the UK government and industry to protect the health and wellbeing of credit users. * #StatusOfMind. Supported by a report examining the positive and negative effects of

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

on young people's health, this campaign called for action from government, social media companies and policy makers to help promote the positive aspects of social media for young people, whilst mitigating the potential negatives. * Taking a New Line on Drugs. With reference to the wider ‘drugscape’ of legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco, the report underpinning this campaign sets out a new vision for a holistic public health-led approach to

drugs policy A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestion, ...

at a UK-wide level. * #LidonLoots. The RSPH-led Gambling Health Alliance called for loot boxes in video games to be classed as a form of gambling.

Programmes

RSPH works with a range of national and regional partners to develop, support and implement programmes and initiatives aimed at supporting the public's health and wellbeing.

Alliances

RSPH leads Gambling Health Alliance, which brings together organisations and individuals who have a shared interest in reducing the damage caused to health and wellbeing from gambling.

Journals

RSPH publishes three peer-reviewed journals on public health, ''Perspectives in Public Health'', ''Public Health'' and ''Public Health in Practice''. *

. ''Public Health'' is one of the world's oldest public health journals, having been in continuous publication since 1888. ''Public Health'' publishes original research papers and reviews on all aspects of public health and is aimed at public health practitioners and researchers. It has an International Editorial Board made up of a distinguished panel of public health experts from around the world. *

. ''Perspectives in Public Health'' combines peer-reviewed research and reviews with practice-based current topic and opinion articles, news, case studies, book reviews, and updates on our latest work. It has both an editorial board and an International Advisory Board. * Public Health in Practice. ''Public Health in Practice'' is a gold open-access journal in the field of population health, and the sister journal to Public Health.

References

External links

Archives at the Wellcome Collection
{{authority control Health in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Medical associations based in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1876 1876 establishments in the United Kingdom Public health in the United Kingdom