For the purpose of this assignment the author will discuss public health and the inequalities that exist, looking at the determinants that affect the health of individuals, the author has chosen to address the issue of breastfeeding and the role it plays in the health promotion of the infant, the mother and society. Using a health needs assessment framework, the rationale for a health initiative to support breastfeeding mothers will be discussed. ‘The aim of a health needs assessment is to describe health problems in a population, this is the starting point’, Gillam et al (2007). It is a method that is objective and takes a systematic approach that identifies need and recommends change to ensure the health service uses its resources to improve the health of the population in the most efficient way. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence, (NICE) 2005 document Health Needs Assessment: A practical guide, sets out a five step project planning process, (see appendix 1) it will ‘ensure a simple but robust and systematic assessment, with tangible outcomes, is undertaken’. A role of the public health nurse is to undertake such assessments and is a standard of proficiency underpinning the key principles of public health practice as laid out in the Nursing and Midwifery Council (2004) Standards of proficiency for specialist community public health nurses, the search for need is an acknowledged basic principle of health visiting. Government policy advocates health needs assessments become mainstream actions, (Department of Health (DH) 2000), however if undertaken, will resources be deployed to these identified areas of need. Kilduff et al (1998) discuss the impact of health needs assessments on the workforce undertaking them and the personal development it requires from practitioners, believing that ‘there is very little protected time within general practice to focus on issues which fall outside the remit of day to day activity’. The authors continue that without...