Defining Healthy Communities

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Health Resources in Action. ; National Network of Public Health Institutes. ; National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (U.S.). Division of Community Health.
• Description:
  Health Resources in Action (HRiA) systematically reviewed the websites of 153 organizations engaging in healthy communities work and documented if and how they defined a healthy community. Healthy community principles offered by the organizations as well as the key elements that comprise a healthy community were also explored and catalogued. Additionally, seminal literature including peer reviewed journal articles and gray literature from the Healthy Communities movement and national and international health promotion efforts was examined. One hundred organizations were included in the analysis. Only 11 organizations had formal healthy community definitions. Further, only six organizations presented a formal set of healthy community principles. Although the majority of organizations did discuss key elements necessary to create and maintain a healthy community, few organizations cited specific indicators by which to measure a community’s health status. These key elements fell into two categories: characteristics of a healthy community and processes in which healthy communities engage. It is important to note that the most commonly mentioned characteristics were not related to physical health but were social determinants of health. Findings from this review suggest that the key tenets of the Healthy Communities movement have and continue to influence how healthy community work is conceptualized and implemented. Future healthy community planning efforts should ensure that each community defines its own notion of a healthy community; healthy community process is valued as much as health outcomes; and healthy community process is guided by a set of healthy community principles.
  
  Funding for this “Defining Healthy Communities” report has been provided by the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) through a Cooperative Agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC - 5U38HM000520-05). NNPHI and Health Resources in Action have collaborated with the Division of Community Health within the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion on this project. The views and opinions of these authors are not necessarily those of CDC or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
  
  defininghealthycommunities.original.pdf
  
  
• Subjects:
  Health Promotion Health Status Disparities Housing Public Health Residence Characteristics Social Environment
• Document Type:
  Pamphlet (or booklet)
• Funding:
  cooperative agreement 5U38HM000520-05
• Pages in Document:
  30 numbered pages
• Collection(s):
  Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:cbe6599c61e929241ef0313162e723db3ebe7b01711936b2192db7800036e051
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/147175/cdc_147175_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 824.44 KB ]