nursing

Public Health Program Planning and Evaluation

In the United States health-care system, eliminating health disparities and realizing health
equity is a critical health concern and an overarching goal according to Healthy People 2030
Framework. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), health equity is
attained when each U.S citizen is provided with a chance to “attain his or her full health
potential” or is “disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or other
socially determined circumstances.” The inequity and disparities in the U.S health sector are
characterized by disparities in quality and length of life, severity and rates of diseases, death
rates, and access to treatment. According to Arthur (2015), profound economic, racial and ethnic
inequalities in health care provision and well-being have been the norm in the U.S for long.
Therefore, critical planning and decisions are needed to determine that health care resources,
technologies and personnel are employed equally to address expected health care needs for all
U.S citizens.
With the mounting scrutiny, program planning and evaluation, as well as demands for
accountability and transparency in the utilization of public health care resources, are a critical
factor to addressing contemporary and emergent health equity issues and challenges (Issel &
Wells, 2017). Planning a health care promotion program involves strategic program and
functional planning factors, as well as a succession of pronouncements founded on amassing and
evaluating an extensive range of public health statistics. Subsequently, effective evaluation
includes engaging public health stakeholders, examining resources, rising appraisal questions,
collecting and studying facts and exploiting the results. Therefore, planning and evaluating an
evidence-informed program is a crucial part of designing and improving health promotion
programs to eliminate health disparities and realize health equity in U.S.

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Importance of Health Program Planning and Evaluation in Eliminating Health Disparities
Public health promotion program planning and evaluation consists of every component
from calculating the needs, setting the objectives and purpose, preparation and arrangement of
activities, execution and gaging the outcomes. An effective program plan and evaluation
warrants that a program hits its goals with an effect on a population’s health care (Issel & Wells,
2017). The planning process is important for any methodical effort to attain equitable healthcare
by discovering and preparing the way that an action should be taken. Therefore, the planning as
an integral part and an important dimension in health provision, results in programs that benefit
all stakeholders to find satisfactory modes of providing and improving equitable health care
provision to the U.S public (Kuehnert, 2018). By focusing on whether an intervention works or
not, program evaluation offers an organized and efficient method to evaluate the program or
initiative to comprehend how well it realizes its objectives (Sue, 2018). The evaluations process
determines what works well and areas of improvement within the program.

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References

Arthur, M. (2015). Health disparities in the United States Barr Donald a Hopkins johns health
disparities in the United States 328pp $54.95/£35.50 University press 9781421414751
1421414759. Nursing Management, 21(9), 13-13.
https://doi.org/10.7748/nm.21.9.13.s15
CDC. (2022, March 3). Health equity. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/healthequity/index.htm
Issel, L. M., & Wells, R. (2017). Health program planning and evaluation. Jones & Bartlett
Learning.
Kuehnert, P. L. (2018). Overview of program planning. Advanced Public and Community
Health Nursing Practice. https://doi.org/10.1891/9780826138446.0009
Sue, E. B. (2018). Conducting a program evaluation. Advanced Public and Community Health
Nursing Practice. https://doi.org/10.1891/9780826138446.0019