The government's 1999 white paper 'Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation' established the National Forum of Non-Governmental Public Health Organisations (subsequently known as the NGO Forum) as part of its developing public health strategy.

Included in the 'Choosing Health' White Paper are commitments to support and develop the voluntary and community sectors. In particular it states that the NGO Forum will be strengthened.

The Forum today

The national report on social marketing 'It's our health!' included the NGO Forum as "the key vehicle for engaging key national NGOs in the planning and delivery of all future social marketing enhanced national programmes and campaigns."

The Forum is sponsored by the Department of Health and is managed by the Royal Society for Public Health.

Membership is open to any national NGO and interested orgnisations can sign up for the monthly email news bulletin to be kept regularly informed of developments.

Download our short NGO Forum leaflet (pdf) here. If required hard copies can be ordered by emailing: ngoforum@rsph.org

NGO Forum Objectives

• To increase cross-government engagement with Forum members, by developing long-term/on-going relationships and acting as a vehicle for communications.
• To provide a formal mechanism for consultation with the third sector on health issues.
• To encourage members to participate actively in NGO Forum events and engage fully with government consultations.
• To undertake future scanning to ensure members and key stakeholders are informed about public health issues arising from policy initiatives.
  
• To provide the impetus and draw together NGO resources to support government initiatives.

Interested in joining us?