Strategies

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

81 Strategies
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Minimum drinking age laws

Maintain the current legal age when an individual can purchase alcoholic beverages; currently 21 years in all states
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Alcohol and drug use

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Minimum wage increases

Increase the lowest hourly, daily, or monthly compensation that employers may legally pay to workers
Evidence Rating:
Mixed Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Income, employment and wealth

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Naloxone education & distribution programs

Distribute Naloxone to trained community members and first responders to reverse opioid overdoses
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Alcohol and drug use

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

New Hope Project

Provided work supports for low income individuals and families (e.g., job search assistance, transitional jobs, subsidized child care, health insurance, etc.); participants worked at least 30 hours/week
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Income, employment and wealth

On-site child care

Provide employees with child care options at work; care may be provided free of charge, partially subsidized as part of an employee benefit package, or offered at market rates
Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Income, employment and wealth

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Paid family leave

Provide employees with paid time off for circumstances such as a recent birth or adoption, a parent or spouse with a serious medical condition, or a sick child
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Income, employment and wealth

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices
  • Laws and policies

Paid sick leave laws

Require employers in an affected jurisdiction to provide paid time off for employees to use when ill or injured
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Income, employment and wealth

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices
  • Laws and policies

Payday loan regulations

Regulate short-term loans that must be repaid by a borrower’s next pay day via bans, caps on maximum interest rates and loan amounts, or require minimum loan terms and credit cost
Evidence Rating:
Mixed Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Income, employment and wealth

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs)

Use databases, housed in state agencies, to track prescribing and dispensing of Schedule II, III, IV, and V drugs and other controlled substances
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Alcohol and drug use

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Proper drug disposal programs

Establish programs that accept expired, unwanted, or unused medicines from designated users and dispose of them responsibly
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Alcohol and drug use
  • Air, water and land