Health programs seek to influence people’s behavior and living and working conditions to prevent disease, disability and premature death. By focusing on prevention, they reduce the financial and human costs that would otherwise be incurred by individuals, employers, families, insurance companies, medical facilities, communities, states and the nation.
The success of health programs depends on several interrelated factors. They need to be based on sound science and evidence. They also need to be designed to have the potential for scalability, meaning that the program could be implemented in a larger number of settings and populations. This is particularly important in developing countries where the resources to fund, implement and monitor a new program may be limited.
Scalability requires the development of a technical package, a selected group of interventions that are expected to achieve and sustain substantial and sometimes synergistic improvements in specific risk factors and disease outcomes. This sharpens and focuses what is often a scattered commitment to action and avoids wasting resources on activities that have little or no effect.
A successful technical package must be designed to be adapted and implemented by local partners, such as community-based organizations and the private sector. It needs to include strategies that can be replicated, including training materials for those who will implement the program and the development of partnerships that can supplement or support implementation.
To be effective, health programs need to provide people with the information and incentives they need to change their behavior. They must also present the threats to health and safety that these behaviors pose. Anecdotes and case studies can help to illustrate these points. Similarly, media framing and news coverage can bring a human face to the issues at hand and help to generate support for specific policy options.
Whether through communication, education, or the improvement of policies and systems that encourage healthy choices, a health program is most likely to be successful if it has the full support of a broad coalition of stakeholders. This includes schools, businesses, government agencies, law enforcement and the media. In addition, the key players in a coalition must be willing to contribute their time and resources.
At NewYork-Presbyterian, our health programs aim to connect our communities with the healthcare they need through a variety of initiatives in the areas of nutrition, gun violence, and more. These programs connect community residents with NewYork-Presbyterian expertise and services, while encouraging them to be advocates for their own health and that of their family members so that good health habits become a longstanding part of their lives.
The BS in Health Sciences can help you chart your path to a career in healthcare, including opportunities to lead health programs that are vital to the well-being of our community. You’ll learn about a broad range of topics, from the physical to the biological, while developing in-demand administrative skills, like healthcare payment systems and health information management.