[Why public health research?].

In a state of the art paper a four step approach is made in order to investigate the question why public health research is necessary at all. 1. Expectations concerning public health research: The classical topics of public health research will continue to be relevant. Additionally, health promotion especially for low income and other risk groups should become important. For this purpose public health should try to relate to politics. Considering available resources and the quality of services goals should be determined as regulative criterias for the health system. Public health research will only remain relevant in the future if it turns from the traditional approach of public health medicine to what is called the new public health paradigm and if it adds the system approach to the population approach. 2. Target groups of public health research are policy makers and institutions as well as persons in the health care system. It has to be checked if these target groups are reached. Policy impact is more important than science impact. 3. Expectations to public health research concern the transfer of public health into other areas of science, the establishment of new institutions and teaching programmes and its inter-disciplinarity. Deficits exist in the selection of relevant topics and in the innovative power of projects. 4. Proposals for further public health actions refer to politically dominant issues which are to be defined by consensus conferences.