Strategies

What Works for Health includes evidence-informed strategies to create communities where everyone can thrive.

35 Strategies
Clear all

Allied dental professional scope of practice

Expand the role of allied dental professionals (e.g., hygienists, therapists, etc.) via changes to statute, dentist supervision requirements, etc.
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Bicycle & pedestrian master plans

Establish a framework to increase walking and biking trails and improve connectivity of non-auto paths and trails in a particular area
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Housing and transportation
  • Diet and exercise
  • Climate

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices
  • Governance

Community gardens

Establish and support land that is gardened or cultivated by community members via community land trusts, gardening education, zoning regulation changes, or service provision (e.g., water or waste disposal)
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Climate
  • Civic and community resources

Community health workers

Engage professional or lay health workers to provide education, referral and follow-up, case management, home visiting, etc. for those who experience barriers in accessing health care; also called promotoras(es) de salud or community health representatives
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Community supported agriculture (CSA)

Establish partnerships between farmers and consumers in which consumers purchase a share of a farm’s products in advance
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Climate
  • Civic and community resources

Farm to school programs

Incorporate locally grown foods into school meals and snacks, often with visits from food producers, cooking classes, nutrition and waste reduction efforts, and school gardens
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Climate

Farmers markets

Support multiple vendor markets where producers sell goods such as fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, dairy items, and prepared foods directly to consumers
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Climate
  • Civic and community resources

Financial incentives for health professionals serving underserved areas

Expand incentives such as scholarships and loans with service requirements and loan repayment or forgiveness programs for health care providers who practice in rural or other underserved areas
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Budgets

Gender-affirming care for youth

Provide supportive, gender-affirming care to trans, non-binary, and gender-expansive youth
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices
  • Laws and policies
  • Worldviews, culture and norms

Green House homes

Support self-contained, homelike dwellings for 10-12 elderly adults who require nursing care; universal caregivers, usually CNAs, provide care and other supports while clinical teams visit for specialized care
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care