Introduction

As we are all learning, good health starts locally--in our homes, neighborhoods, schools and workplaces.  It is influenced by programs and policies outside the traditional boundaries of what we generally call “health care."  Things like transportation, education, access to healthy food, safe places for recreation/ physical activity, economic opportunities... all of these have a huge impact on our health. The goal of Health in All Policies (HiAP) is to ensure that all such programs and policies help us stay healthy and do not put us in harm’s way.  It aims to promote healthy community environments and prevent adverse health impacts in the future through intentional collaborative work across all sectors of government and the community.

With support from the American Public Health Association, NMPHA convened a Health in All Policies (HiAP) Work Group in June 2014. The work group's goal is education of policy-makers at the state and local levels about the principles and practice of HiAP. Members of the work group have been developing and gathering creative and interactive approaches designed to broaden the scope of policy-makers' understanding of health equity and HiAP, as well as specific tools and examples for how to actually incorporate health into all policies.

Additionally, the work group decided to host train-the-trainer workshops to help others across the state engage policy-makers, institutional leaders and community members in discussions about the implementation of HiAP.

In support of this endeavor, the work group has developed the following toolkit, which includes resources, videos, communications tools, and other multimedia and interactive features to support an understanding of health in all policies. These tools have been collected from a wide variety of sources.

This toolkit is available for anyone who is interested in implementing health in all policies. The HiAP Work Group envisions that this toolkit will grow over time, and we welcome feedback and suggestions for additional items to include (see contact information at the bottom of the page). Most of all, we hope that this Health in All Policies Toolkit is valuable and helpful for you.

Table of Contents

• Articles & Reports (A wide-variety of related reports with data and information, including policy briefs)
• Communications & Messaging Tools (Tools to help the trainer use the best language to reach the target audience)
• Data & Research Examples (Academic and targeted toward audiences with understanding of research principles)
• Exercises (Interactive hands-on activities for engaging groups)
• Guides & Other Toolkits (Guides for implementing HiAP at state and local levels)
• HiAP Case Studies (Examples from localities where HiAP principles have been used in policy-making and planning activities)
• Presentations (Presentations on HiAP)
• Videos (Wide-ranging from basic and short to more complex documentaries)

Thank you for your interest in Health in All Policies!