Description

Welcome to the first issue of Public Health Medicine: the Journal for Continuing Professional Development. A legitimate question may cross the mind of every reader of a newly launched journal; do we need another journal? In an era of a nearly saturated market of clinical and health periodicals one needs to stand back and think extremely carefully about the justification for another journal.

First of all, continuing medical education and life long learning today, are part and parcel of the busy daily schedule of practitioners. It is not only a mandate but also a requirement by Royal Colleges and Faculties, and from 1st April 1999 in the UK it will be one of the essential tools of “Clinical Governance”. Very few journals in public health, focus on such activities thus saving much needed time and energy which would be required to go through massive numbers of publications – and most may not be relevant to those with the special interest in public health.