Explore new curated set of strategies to improve rural health

What Works for Health (WWFH) is a database with over 400 evidence-informed strategies that can improve community health. Users can search, filter and explore strategies to identify those that best fit their community’s needs and interests. To support rural communities in their ongoing work to advance health and well-being, the WWFH team of analysts developed a new Rural Health Curated Strategy List.

The list includes strategies that cover a range of approaches, from strengthening educational and workforce opportunities to ensuring accessible health services and protecting environmental resources. Analysts developed the list through conversations with local public health professionals, reviewing research literature, and engaging with experts in the rural health space.

Rural communities are complex and unique. While there are multiple definitions of rural, according to the CDC’s Rural Public Health Strategic Plan, rural areas include geographically isolated areas, tribal lands, small communities, towns and villages, and vary by locality, state and region. Experts in the field, like the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative, emphasize that to advance health priorities in rural communities, projects should be locally driven and include a diverse group of community members, leaders and stakeholders in both the design and implementation phases. Accordingly, the curated list highlights civic action and includes strategies that focus on using and building power to influence societal rules — a new area of our model of health.

Examples of featured power-building strategies:

• Labor unions
• Public libraries for community building
• Community organizing in public health

Explore the Rural Health Curated Strategy List to learn more about ways that communities can strengthen local leadership, infrastructure, emergency preparedness, housing and education, and more in rural spaces. 

Contact us for more information about the Rural Health Curated Strategy List and WWFH.