Public Health Finance

Abstract

In Brief In attempt to stimulate development of public health finance as a field of practice, policy, and scholarship, this article proposes a working definition of the term “public health finance,” embeds it in the context of the maturing literature on the public health system and its infrastructure, and proposes a four-part typology that spans both public-sector and private-sector contributions to the financing of prevention and health promotion. A developmental strategy for the field—in applied research, training and education, and performance standards—is outlined as well. This article presents a conceptual framework for the underdeveloped field of public health finance for use by practitioners, policy makers, educators, trainers, and researchers.