What is the Annual Public Health Report (APHR)?
An Annual Public Health Report (APHR) is a comprehensive document produced by the Director of Public Health for a local authority. It provides an overview of the health status of the local population, highlights key health issues, and outlines public health priorities and actions taken over the past year. The APHR is a statutory requirement and Directors of Public Health and mandated to produce these reports annually as part of their professional responsibilities.
The APHR report aims to inform stakeholders, including policymakers, healthcare providers, and the public, about the health challenges and progress within the community.
The latest Annual Public Health Report, which is focused on health in an ageing Devon, can be found here: Annual Public Health Report 2023-24
The full set of previous annual reports and the themes they covered is available below:
- 2022-23: Securing Devon’s Health and Wellbeing – Investing in Prevention
- 2021-22: Living with COVID-19
- 2020-21: COVID-19 Pandemic
- 2019-20: Planetary and human health
- 2018-19: Mental Health
- 2017-18: The health and wellbeing of children
- 2016-17: Place-based public health
- 2015-16: Fairness, equality and justice
- 2014-15: Health inequality
- 2013-14: The shape of things to come
- 2012-13: Progress made over the last six years
- 2011-12: 60 years of public health in Devon
- 2010-11: The health of older people
- 2009-10: Mental health
- 2008-09: The health of children and young people
- 2007-08: Tackling inequalities in health
Responsibility for Public Health moved back to local authorities from the NHS in April 2013. Public Health was last the responsibility of local authorities prior to the health reforms of 1974, at which time the County Medical Officer was responsible for producing an annual report on health in their community. The Annual Report of the County Medical Officer for Devon from 1952 is available here, and highlights the transformations in health and society seen since the middle of the 20th Century.