We are a team of people who represent a wide variety of organizations in the public and private sector, including government agencies, health care providers, and community organizations. Our shared…
Policy is a set of guidelines that inform a course of action for governments, businesses, organizations and institutions. Health can be impacted by policies in many different ways. Through policy, we can make positive changes in community health.
Policy Analysis is looking for policy options that help solve a health problem and then comparing those options for the best one to solve the problem.
Check out these Key Questions to further explain the policy analysis process.
Policy analysis makes sure you have chosen the best policy option for your health issue and problem.
Using a policy analysis table like this one can help in the policy analysis process.
Health issues and problems can be found through problem identification. Problem Identification is:
To identify a problem, you need to:
Read about the different types of policy briefs and how to write them here.
Stakeholders are people or groups impacted by or concerned with the problem and are interested in policy solutions for it.
Stakeholders include:
You need to make sure you are finding the root cause of the health problem—and sometimes this is not always crystal clear. This helps in creating the best solutions for a problem.
Visit the CDC’s Fast Stats to view topics that are important for population health. These may help guide you in problem identification.
Some policies we are working towards to create a more nutritious environment for Arkansans include:
Some policies we are working towards to create a more physically active environment for Arkansans include:
Want to learn more about HAA or get involved with one of the three areas of change? Send us your contact information and we’ll be in touch.