Strategies

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

74 Strategies

Point-of-purchase prompts for healthy foods

Place motivational signs on posters, front of package labels, or shelf labels near fruits, vegetables, and other items that encourage individuals to purchase healthier food options
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

Recreational sports leagues for adults

Offer opportunities for adults to play athletic games such as soccer, softball, kickball, basketball, etc. at beginner, intermediate, and competitive levels
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Civic and community resources

Restaurant nutrition labeling

Provide nutrition information on menus and signboards at restaurants and other food outlets
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

Safe Routes to Schools

Promote walking and biking to school through education, incentives, and environmental changes; often called SRTS
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Housing and transportation
  • Diet and exercise
  • Climate

School breakfast programs

Support programs to provide students with a nutritious breakfast in the cafeteria, from grab and go carts in hallways, or in classrooms
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Education
  • Diet and exercise

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

School food & beverage restrictions

Limit access to competitive foods and beverages in schools via restrictions on foods that are not provided through the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program.
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

School fruit & vegetable gardens

Establish designated areas where students can garden with guidance, often with nutrition and food preparation lessons and opportunities for taste tasting and hands-on learning
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Climate

School fundraiser restrictions

Prohibit the sale of unhealthy foods such as sugar sweetened beverages, candy, and other non-nutritious snacks at school fundraisers, often as part of a broader nutrition policy
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

School nutrition standards

Regulate the quality of food that can be sold to students through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), à la carte options, vending machines, etc.
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Climate

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

School-based nutrition education programs

Address nutrition in schools via educational (e.g., classroom or curricula-wide efforts, peer training, etc.), environmental (e.g., school menus, classroom snacks, etc.), and other approaches
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

School-based physical education enhancements

Expand or enhance school-based physical education (PE) by lengthening existing classes, increasing physical activity during class, adding new PE classes, etc.
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

Screen time interventions for children

Encourage children to spend time away from TV and other stationary screen media, often as part of a multi-faceted effort to increase physical activity and improve nutrition
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

Shared use agreements

Create contracts that support community access to existing public, private, or nonprofit facilities before or after business hours; also called joint use, open use, or community use agreements
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Civic and community resources

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Soda taxes

Increase the price of sugar sweetened beverages (e.g., soda) by adding an excise or sales tax
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Unhealthy snack taxes

Increase the price of snack products high in sugar and fat by adding an excise or sales tax
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Urban agriculture

Support food-producing and income-earning activities in urban environments (e.g., edible landscapes, front yard or rooftop gardens, window farming, hydroponics, livestock, etc.)
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Climate
  • Civic and community resources

Walking school buses

Arrange active transportation with a fixed route, designated stops, and pick up times when children can walk to school with adult chaperones
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Housing and transportation
  • Diet and exercise
  • Climate

Water availability & promotion interventions

Make water readily available in various settings via regular placement of drinking fountains, water coolers, bottled water in vending machines, etc.
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

WIC & Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Programs

Support Farmers’ Market Nutrition Programs, which provide WIC and Senior Nutrition Program participants with vouchers for fresh, unprepared, locally grown fruits and vegetables
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

Workplace supports for breastfeeding

Support breastfeeding via private, well-equipped lactation spaces in workplaces, along with breastfeeding breaks, flexible schedules, professional lactation support, etc.
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Income, employment and wealth
  • Diet and exercise

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Worksite obesity prevention interventions

Use educational, environmental, and behavioral strategies to improve food choices and physical activity opportunities in worksite settings, also called workplace health programs
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

Zoning regulation and land use policy reforms

Reform zoning regulations to remove exclusionary zoning codes, address physical environment aesthetics and safety, street continuity and connectivity, residential density, and mixed-use development, etc.
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Housing and transportation
  • Diet and exercise
  • Air, water and land
  • Climate

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Zoning regulations for chickens and bees

Allow residents to keep chickens and bees within city or municipality limits
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Zoning regulations for fast food

Limit or ban fast food outlets in areas of a city, restrict the number or density of outlets, or regulate distance between fast food outlets and other sites (e.g., schools)
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies