How are we doing — and how can we do better? These are perhaps the most basic questions a community can ask regarding the health of its residents. Yet communities have not been given the necessary tools to answer these questions with validated, consistent measures, evidence-based policies and practices, and incentives for improvement.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, have developed a framework for measuring community health and mobilizing community action to address community health issues. One component of this framework is a set of national County Health Rankings which provide a defined set of health indicators for almost every city and county in the country. This report from the CDC provides and excellent framework for planning or evaluating a community health improvement initiative.
