Within the SPHERE project this study focussed on public health references published in French. We tried to identify the focus of this subset of the public health literature in terms of health needs and of public health functions. Method References from six French and one Canadian public health journals for the period 1995-2004 were retrieved electronically. We indexed articles according to one main domain of health needs using the global burden of disease headings. Publications were also

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... d one of four public health functions: health monitoring, health services research, prevention and legislation. Results We identified nearly 4 000 articles. Only 51% could be allocated a health needs code. Proportions allocated to non-communicable diseases, communicable, maternal and perinatal conditions and to injuries were 71%, 25%, 5% respectively. This compared well to the actual burden of non-communicable diseases (84%). However discrepancies were evident for the communicable, maternal and perinatal conditions (low burden of disease compared with publications) and for injuries (high burden of disease compared with publications) 92% of the articles were assigned one function code. Health monitoring and health services