Strategies

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

312 Strategies
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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

Father involvement programs

Support fathers’ active involvement in child rearing via various father-focused or family-focused interventions
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs)

Increase support for non-profit health care organizations and deliver comprehensive care to uninsured, underinsured, and vulnerable patients regardless of ability to pay; often called community health centers (CHCs)
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

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 Conditions

  • Alcohol and drug use

Financial education for adults

Provide education on basic budgeting, bank use, credit management, bankruptcy, credit building and counseling, homeownership, retirement, divorce, etc.
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Income, employment and wealth

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

Financial rewards for employee healthy behavior

Offer payments, credits toward health insurance premiums, or other financial rewards to encourage employees to lose weight, eat more healthily, quit smoking, engage in physical activity, etc.
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

Firearm licensing laws

Require a potential purchaser to obtain a permit or license before purchasing a firearm
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Firearm restrictions for people convicted of domestic violence

Prohibit firearm purchase and possession by people convicted in any court of a domestic violence misdemeanor or by people subject to a domestic violence protective/restraining order
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies