Programme planning

Public health programmes tend to be categorised in terms of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention programmes. Primary prevention programmes are designed to tackle the determinants or causes of certain conditions in order to prevent that condition from occurring. Public health services generally use data regarding known associations or cause and effects to decide on programmes that target certain individuals and communities considered at high risk of developing certain diseases, injuries or social issues. Programme planning involves getting together many different agencies, organisations and client groups for discussions, and the logistics of this is difficult in itself. Health impact assessment (HIA) has been defined as, 'A combination of procedures, methods or tools by which a policy, programme or project may be judged as to its potential effects on the health of a population'. Basically, HIA is a consideration of the potential of any policy, programme, project or plan to affect health, both positively and negatively.