Translating Legal and Policy Evidence and Data for Health Impact: The Healthy People 2020 Law and Health Policy Project

For a health in all policies approach to flourish, collaborations must occur between various sectors and all relevant tools and strategies must be considered, including legal and policy tools and perspectives.  A new effort to demonstrate the impact that law and policy have on health incorporates the broad focus of the national Healthy People 2020 (HP2020) initiative, aims to contribute to this knowledge. HP2020 provides science-based national objectives for a decade to improve the health of all Americans. The goal is to: encourage collaborations across communities and sectors; empower individuals toward making informed health decisions; and measure the impact of prevention activities.

To demonstrate the impact and effect that laws and policies can have on health, the HP2020 Law and Health Policy Project was created. This project, a partnership between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and CDC Foundation, will produce 10-15 evidence-based reports that showcase a broad vision of health and share how legal and policy interventions/strategies are effective tools in meeting HP2020 measureable, science-based objectives. Each report will feature progress toward national HP2020 objectives, include policy surveillance information, focus on state and local laws, and highlight evidence-based laws or case studies with demonstrated health outcomes. This presentation will explain the development process for this project, preview lessons from the first reports on diverse health-related topics, and explain their expected value for leaders taking a broad perspective on improving the health of their communities.