What Works for Health

Evidence matters. Our What Works for Health tool will help you find policies and programs that are a good fit for your community's priorities.

NEW: Structural Determinants of Health Curated Strategy List

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Alcohol and drug use Diet and exercise Sexual activity Tobacco use Clinical care Housing and transportation Air, water and land Climate Civic and community resources Education Income, employment and wealth Safety and social support
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Curated Strategy Lists

Each What Works for Health Curated Strategy List is carefully selected by our expert evidence analysts to include evidence-informed programs, policies and systems changes that can support community change efforts around specific topics and themes.  

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Featured strategies

These strategies can help your community in its health improvement journey.

Fentanyl test strip distribution programs

Provide free fentanyl test strips to detect the presence of fentanyl in different kinds of drugs and drug forms
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
Community Condition:

Good Samaritan drug overdose laws

Provide immunity from arrest, charges, or prosecution for drug possession or paraphernalia when individuals experiencing or witnessing drug overdose summon emergency services
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
Community Condition:

Naloxone education & distribution programs

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

Syringe services programs

Provide sterile injection equipment and often other treatment and referral services to people who inject drugs; also called needle or syringe exchange programs and...
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
Community Condition:
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Make the most of What Works for Health

Learn how you can effectively use What Works for Health to find evidence-informed policies and programs to make a difference in your community and explore what's behind our evidence ratings.

Methods and ratings Finding health strategies
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What Works for Health reports

Explore reports for deeper looks into what's working for specific topics and areas of the country.

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