Why is this important?
Achieving a culture in which health is embraced as a strategic imperative and as a core social value requires the inclusion of health in all sectors and all policies. Many non-health sectors are driven by considerations other than health. Advocates for health need to understand the priorities of the sectors in which they want to make progress and must work collaboratively to develop a case for prevention and policies that support it. Constructive engagement with decision-makers in other sectors involves developing strategies that help each other.
Pathways
Develop and implement a strategy to integrate a Health in All Policies approach across the US, leveraging and strengthening the health component of impact assessments.
Establish partnerships between government sectors (including the Departments of Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Education, Transportation, and the Interior) to facilitate the integration of health into policies and programs using standardized health metrics.
Foster collaboration at the local level to promote and improve community health, involving leaders in business, education, health, and civic and faith organizations in planning of all municipal programs and infrastructure projects.
Measures of Success
Short Term (2017)
- Building on past IOM reports, action plans have been generated that translate existing recommendations into policy development with federal, state, and local government departments and agencies.
- The Community Preventive Services Task Force collaborates formally with sectors such as agriculture, transportation, education, and infrastructure planning, to define the specific health issues t stake and determine how to address them in the context of each sector’s priorities.
- NGO leaders involved in key sectors (including agriculture, transportation,education, and infrastructure planning) have convened to define how best to integrate health across advocacy platforms for near-term, high-impact action.
Medium Term (2020)
- Health risks and outcomes are measured, reported, and used in decision-making by non-health businesses and public sector agencies.
- The federal government mandates reporting on health indicators and metrics by the agriculture, transportation,education, and infrastructure planning sectors, and inclusion of health as a key component in all impact assessments.
- In 10 cities and states, mayors and governors make prevention a op agenda item by spearheading task forces and other action, in collaboration with leaders from the business, financial, faith, education, public health, and social sectors, to improve the health of their communities.
Long Term (2025)
- Information generated from cities and states that made prevention a op agenda item have been shared with other cities and states to form task forces in collaboration with leading stakeholders.
- Health in All Policies is the standard in 100 percent of the public sector.
- Short- and long-term return on investment for health promotion and prevention is unequivocally adopted and widely accepted as common sense.
