Why public health?
Be proud of what you do
Public health is a rewarding career where your actions and decisions can make a difference to people’s lives and wellbeing.

Loads of variety
You can work in lots of different roles promoting health and wellbeing. You’ll also tackle health inequalities and respond to infectious diseases.

Learn how diseases spread
Learn about the causes and effects of health and disease in populations.

Travel to different countries
You may choose to travel to other countries to help improve global health.

Things you didn’t know about Public health
Q and A with a disease
An interview with tuberculosis.
Gameshow
Welcome to the wheel of public health fortune.
Big questions
Exploring big questions in public health.
5 things you didn't know
Think you know about public health?
How to stop a disease
How do you stop a disease from spreading?
Where can you go?
Where can you go after studying public health at Manchester?
What is the course like?
Hear what some of our students have enjoyed about studying public health at Manchester.
Be a public health detective
Bia talks about how she came to study public health at Manchester, and how it became her passion. She explains that sometimes you can feel like a detective, working out why some people get sick, and others don’t.

Keep people healthy
Aayush explains what studying public health at Manchester is like. From learning how to keep people healthy and solving big problems that affect communities, to finding out how diseases spread.

Public health in the community
Gallant describes his experience of studying public health and its importance to communities. He explains how in the future he’d like to travel to developing nations to improve healthcare and contribute to healthier and happier communities.

Where can you work?
Healthcare
- Consultant in public health
- Communicable disease consultant
- Epidemiologist
- Health protection specialist
- Occupational health advisor
- Public health manager/officer
- Public health practitioner

Research and education
- Health educator
- Lecturer
- Epidemiologist
- Public health researcher/research assistant
- Toxicologist

Data science
- Biostatistician
- Public health intelligence analyst/assistant
- Public health statistician/analysist

Charities
- Working for charities to help improve the lives of vulnerable people

Community
- Community development worker
- Health promotion officer

Government Agencies/Local Authorities
- Public health teams in local authorities
- Non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
- Government departments.

The Facts
Money
There are so many career opportunities to explore with a public health degree and salaries range depending on job role and responsibilities. For example, a Junior Researcher can earn around £25,000, local authority roles start at £23,000, a Biostatician earns approximately £55,000 a year and the highest paid positions can earn £100,000+.
Find out more at:
14 public health degree careers (with salaries and duties) | Indeed.com UK
Everyone
Public health is about everyone and how we live in our communities as well as global health. It’s all about stopping diseases before they happen, helping people live longer, making sure everyone has a chance to be healthy, the environment and the impact of climate change.
41,000
It is estimated that around 36,000 to 41,000 people work in core public health roles in the UK.
(source: Centre for Workforce Intelligence).
24%
The demand for public health professionals in the UK rose by 24% in 2021.
(source: NHS England’s capacity review).
3.8 million
There are around 3.8 million community health workers globally (just one of the many roles you can choose), working across approximately 98 countries. However, this number isn’t enough to meet global demands (source: The Global Fund).
Information correct at time of publication: January 2025.
Public health at Manchester
The public health degree at Manchester is a really dynamic and interesting course.
It covers so many areas of health, preparing you for a career that could span the globe.
You’ll become a critical thinker, always asking why and considering new ways of working to help you become the best public health practitioner you can be.
Take the first step in discovering more about public health courses at Manchester.
Study public health
Join a diverse and exciting field with a variety of career paths depending on what you’re interested in.
