Theory. Building communities that create health

The authors argue that this approach to public health fails to meet the goal of public health-to improve health for all--and that the key to health improvement is to create a social context in which healthy choices are the norm.

Abstract

Typically, public health policy, program design, and resource allocation are based on issue-specific, targeted interventions directed at specific populations or sub-populations. The authors argue that this approach fails to meet the goal of public health-to improve health for all--and that the key to health improvement is to create a social context in which healthy choices are the norm. The authors present as case studies two Pennsylvania cities that used multisectoral approaches to achieve community health improvements.