Science and Practice in Public Health Services: Experiences from Saxony-Anhalt and Perspectives for Sustainable Public Health Services

Against the backdrop of the Pact for the Public Health Service (Pakt für den Öffentlichen Gesundheitsdienst; Pakt ÖGD), the commitment to evidence-informed practice is increasingly shaping the strategic development of Germany's Public Health Service (ÖGD). Particularly at the municipal and federal state levels, closer collaboration between research and public health practice is needed. In Saxony-Anhalt, a cooperation agreement was concluded in 2024 between the City of Magdeburg and Magdeburg University Medicine (UMMD) to institutionally strengthen their existing collaboration. In the same year, a project agreement involving additional public health stakeholders was established to create a sustainable framework for systematic exchange between academia and public health administration.This article presents ongoing collaborative initiatives in Saxony-Anhalt, including projects on the analysis of school entry examinations, in-depth evaluations of Early Childhood Intervention Services (Frühe Hilfen), e‑mental health interventions for children and adolescents, and the public health response to Mpox. These examples illustrate how regional cooperation between academia and practice can be operationalized and highlight the opportunities such collaborations offer for the continued development of the Public Health Service. In addition, knowledge translation formats such as regular coordination meetings, scientific events, and practice-oriented training play a key role in facilitating the transfer of evidence into public health practice.The experiences from Saxony-Anhalt are consistent with the recommendations of the Advisory Board of the Pakt ÖGD, which has called, among other measures, for the establishment of teaching and research public health offices, bridge professorships, and sustainable funding structures. The examples of collaboration demonstrate that the future-oriented development of the Public Health Service requires both local innovation and supra-regional structures that systematically connect science and practice.