Final answer:
The competencies of public health (PH) workers should align with the essential services they provide to ensure effective public health practice. This alignment helps them deliver services efficiently and improve the health of the population they serve.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question you've asked concerns the relationship between the essential services of public health and the competencies of public health workers. The correct answer is b) Competencies should align with essential services to ensure effective public health practice. Public health workers need to have competencies that match the essential services they provide, including skills like communication, leadership, and systems thinking, to effectively protect and improve the health of populations.
These essential services cover a wide range of activities, from monitoring health status to diagnosing and investigating health problems, developing policies, and ensuring access to healthcare. Therefore, it's vital for public health workers to have the requisite competencies to deliver these services efficiently and effectively.