The Community Guide

A vital part of the mission of public health in America is to prevent disease, injury, and disability. In fact, many people use the word prevention as a synonym for public health. What do local boards of health need to know about prevention and how can they keep up to date on the most effective policies and programs for preventing diseases, injuries, or disabilities?

Important New Information Available:

Systemic Review on Alcohol Taxes to Reduce Excessive Drinking:

Raising alcohol excise taxes is a highly effective strategy for helping to prevent the approximately 79,000 deaths due to excessive drinking in the United States, according to a systematic review published in the February 2010 issue of theAmerican Journal of Preventive Medicine. The review evaluated 73 published articles and technical reports that examined the relationships between the price of alcohol, excessive drinking, and several harmful consequences of excessive drinking.

Visit www.thecommunityguide.org to learn more about this recommendation, systematic reviews, and the Guide to Community Preventive Services.

You can receive automatic emails when additions are made to the Community Guide by clicking on “Get email Updates” in the right margin of the Community Guide home page.

Updated Community Guide Website

is a Valuable No-cost Resource

The Guide to Community Preventive Services redesigned its website to better meet the needs of those who want to know what works to promote public health and safety in their communities. As an official Liaison organization to the Task Force on Community Preventive Services, NALBOH is pleased to let you know that the new website makes it easy to find the evidence-based recommendations and findings made by the Task Force on more than 210 interventions, including those to:

Promote health in the workplace
Prevent cancer and increase screening
Increase physical activity
Prevent and control obesity
Prevent and reduce tobacco use
Reduce injuries from motor vehicle crashes
Reduce excessive alcohol use
Prevent and control diabetes
Mental health
Improve oral health

The Task Force is an independent, non-governmental, volunteer body of public health and prevention experts that makes findings and recommendations based on systematic reviews of scientific literature conducted by an interdisciplinary team of partners, including Liaisons, led by Community Guide or other CDC scientists. The Community Guide website provides one-stop shopping for Task Force recommendations and findings for use by: policymakers, practitioners, educators, and public health decision makers in state and local health departments, healthcare systems, schools, work sites, funding organizations, and communities.

Information on the Community Guide website, which is free to everyone, can be used to help:

Develop public policy
Plan programs and services
Allocate resources
Plan research projects
Educate health professionals

NALBOH encourages you to visit www.thecommunityguide.org to learn about this valuable resource.

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NALBOH Community Health Pages

Community Health Status Indicators

Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity

Tobacco Use Prevention and Control

Tobacco Resource & Publications

Oral Health

For questions or more information about The Community Guide, please contact Chuck Moon.

Page updated 1/11/2010.