Strategies

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

62 Strategies
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Competitive pricing for healthy foods

Assign higher costs to non-nutritious foods than nutritious foods via incentives, subsidies, or price discounts for healthy foods and beverages or disincentives or price increases for unhealthy choices
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Climate

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Complete Streets & streetscape design initiatives

Enhance streetscapes with greater sidewalk coverage and walkway connectivity, street crossing safety features, traffic calming measures, and other design elements
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Housing and transportation
  • Diet and exercise
  • Civic and community resources
  • Climate

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Composting

Use aerobic, natural decomposition to divert food and yard waste from landfills and create a nutrient-rich soil amendment product on an individual or large scale
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Air, water and land
  • Climate

Comprehensive clinic-based programs for pregnant & parenting teens

Address the needs of teenage parents via clinic-based programs that provide health care and family planning services as well as case management, counseling, and other supports
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care
  • Sexual activity

Comprehensive risk reduction sexual education

Provide information about contraception and protection against sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in classroom or community settings
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Sexual activity

Condom availability programs

Provide condoms free of charge or at a reduced cost in community and school-based settings
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Sexual activity

Conservation tillage practices

Encourage methods of soil cultivation that keep at least one-third of cultivated soil covered with the previous year’s crop residue (e.g., mulch till, ridge till, strip till, or no-till)
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Air, water and land
  • Climate

Digital interventions to prevent HIV and other STIs

Provide tailored health information and assistance with decision making, behavior change, and emotional support via digital interactive programs
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Sexual activity

Electric vehicle initiatives

Replace internal combustion engine vehicles with all-electric vehicles through financial incentives, regulations, and multi-component initiatives
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Air, water and land
  • Climate

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies
  • Budgets

Expedited partner therapy for treatable STIs

Provide prescriptions or medications to patients diagnosed with treatable STIs to give to their partners without provider visits; also called patient-delivered partner therapy (PDPT)
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Sexual activity