The Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) began development of its Public Health Policy Centre in 2007. The role of the Centre is to strengthen and expand the Institute’s existing role in influencing public policy to improve health.

The focus of the work is on health inequalities and the social determinants of health, with a particular interest in North-South policy analyses. The Centre is a source of accessible and relevant information on key policy issues affecting health on the island of Ireland.

Through the work of the Public Health Policy Centre, the Institute aims to produce the following resources:

• policy analyses, position and briefing papers on key areas of concern in public health, which are strategic and policy relevant;

• submissions to consultations with a view to influencing relevant policy and strategy North and South;

• timely responses to policy developments North and South;

• a dynamic website that acts as a resource for all those interested in public policy and provides relevant, easily understandable and timely information, contributing to knowledge translation for public health;

• a programme of conferences, seminars, round tables and think tanks with the purpose of engaging a wide range of people in debate to find ways of addressing challenging policy problems.

The Centre works in a structured and coordinated way with the Institute’s Health Impact Assessment (HIA) policy programme and the development of Ireland and Northern Ireland’s Population Health Observatory (INIsPHO).