Planning and evaluation

Abstract

Introduction:
The core business of public health is to protect and promote health in the population.
Public health planning is the means to maximise these aspirations. Health
professionals develop plans to address contemporary health priorities as the evidence
about changing patterns of mortality and morbidity is presented. Officials are also
alert to international trends in patterns of disease that have the potential to affect the
health of Australians. Integrated planning and preparation is currently underway
involving all emergency health services, hospitals and population health units to
ensure Australia's quick and efficient response to any major infectious disease
outbreak, such as avian influenza (bird flu). Public health planning for the
preparations for the Sydney Olympics and Paralympic Games in 2000 took almost

three years. ‘Its major components included increased surveillance of communicable
disease; presentations to sentinel emergency departments; medical encounters at
Olympic venues; cruise ship surveillance; environmental and food safety inspections;
bioterrorism surveillance and global epidemic intelligence’ (Jorm et al 2003, 102). In
other words, the public health plan was developed to ensure food safety, hospital
capacity, safe crowd control, protection against infectious diseases, and an integrated
emergency and disaster plan. We have national and state plans for vaccinating
children against infectious diseases in childhood; plans to promote dental health for
children in schools; and screening programs for cervical, breast and prostate cancer.
An effective public health response to a change in the distribution of morbidity and
mortality requires planning. All levels of government plan for the public’s health.
Local governments (councils) ensure healthy local environments to protect the
public’s health. They plan parks for recreation, construct traffic-calming devices near
schools to prevent childhood accidents, build shade structures and walking paths, and
even embed drafts/chess squares in tables for people to sit and play. Environmental
Health officers ensure food safety in restaurants and measure water quality. These
public health measures attempt to promote the quality of life of residents. Australian
and state governments produce plans that protect and promote health through various
policy and program initiatives and innovations.
To be effective, program plans need to be evaluated. However, building an integrated
evaluation plan into a program plan is often forgotten, as planning and evaluation are
seen as two distinct entities. Consequently, it is virtually impossible to measure, with
any confidence, the extent to which a program has achieved its goals and objectives.

This chapter introduces you to the concepts of public health program planning and
evaluation. Case studies and reflection questions are presented to illustrate key points.
As various authors use different terminology to describe the same concepts/actions of
planning and evaluation, the glossary at the back of this book will help you to clarify
the terms used in this chapter.