Policy levers in public health: How policy and law can advance health

Policy and law are tools that play important roles in protecting and improving the health of a community. Communities attempting to act on their County Health Ranking or the Commission to Build a Healthier America's recommendations should also focus on the laws and policies that affect them. By understanding how law can improve health and which policy levers to pull, communities can successfully use policy and law to protect the minds and bodies of their residents.

This session will focus on how legal and policy levers affect communities' health and how existing legal infrastructures may stimulate or impede their population's health. Specifically, this session will: 1. Describe ways in which policy and law advance or encumber community health; 2. Provide examples of legal interventions that affect health behaviors, the physical environment, and other social determinants of health; 3. Describe ethical or social justice issues that arise as a result of the County Health Rankings or Commission to Build a Healthier America; and 4. Explain resources available to communities and their leaders for making policy and environmental changes.