Background:
Public health is "what we, as a society, do collectively to assure the conditions in which people can be healthy." To assure preconception health and healthcare for all, the public health workforce needs to be retooled. Much like clinicians need to be educated to conduct preconception risk assessment, health promotion, and medical and psychosocial interventions, the public health workforce needs to be trained to carry out its core functions of assessment, assurance, and policy development to promote preconception health and health care for all.

Objectives:
To examine the training needs of public health workforce to promote preconception health and healthcare through assessment, assurance, and policy development.

Methods:
Gaps analyses are conducted to identify the training needs of the public health workforce for promoting preconception health and healthcare.

Results:
Several training needs are identified. For assessment, training in data integration, including competencies in longitudinal and multilevel data linkages, is needed. For assurance, training in intersectoral collaboration to assure the conditions for promoting the fundamental causes of preconception health is needed. For policy development, training in creating public policies and political will to promote preconception health and health care for all is needed.

Conclusion and implications for practice:
Public health workforce needs to be trained to promote preconception health and healthcare for all through assessment, assurance, and policy development. It is our hope that this session will serve to stimulate a dialogue about the training needs of the public health workforce with regards to preconception health and health care.