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The Community Guide Home Page

Policy Development

Laws and policies can effect population health and reduce long-term medical and other costs. Examples include:

  • Broad-based policies, such as smoking bans and laws
  • Targeted laws, such as child safety seat laws
  • Educational requirements, such as vaccinations  for child care and school attendance
  • Community-wide interventions, such as water fluoridation
Since the Community Guide provides information on public health interventions and policies that have been proven to work, legislators, policy makers, community leaders, and community members interested in specific issues can use it to:
  • Identify what laws and policies promote public health and at what cost
  • Draft evidence-based policies and legislation
  • Justify funding decisions and proposals
  • Support policies and legislation that promote the health of their communities and change policies and legislation that do not

Review a list of Community Guide reviews that include Task Force policy recommendations.

The Community Guide in Action:
Laws to Lower Illegal Blood Alcohol Limit Save 400-600 Lives/Year

Community Guide finding: In 2000, the Community Guide scientific process revealed that state laws that lowered the illegal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for automobile drivers from 0.10% to 0.08% reduced alcohol-related fatalities by a median of 7%.

Task Force Recommendation: With this evidence, the Task Force on Community Preventive Services strongly recommended that all states pass 0.08% BAC laws.

Legislation: In October 2000, the President signed the Fiscal Year 2001 transportation appropriations bill, requiring states to pass the 0.08% BAC law by October 2003 or risk losing federal highway construction funds.

Result: Since the bill passed, all 50 states have enacted legislation dropping the legal blood alcohol concentration to 0.08%. With all states enacting and enforcing the 0.08% BAC laws, experts estimate 400-600 fewer alcohol-related deaths occur on our roadways each year.

Read more about the systematic review of BAC legislation.

Selected Resources

Law as a Tool for Preventing Chronic Diseases: Expanding the Spectrum of Effective Public Health Strategies. Mensah GA, Goodman RA, Zaza S, Moulton AD, Kocher PL, Dietz WH, et al. Preventing Chronic Disease [serial online] Vol. 1, No. 1. 2004 Jan.

Commentary on the Emerging Guide to Community Preventive Services from a Health Promotion Perspective. Green LW , Kreuter MW. Am J Prev Med 2000: 18; 7-9.

Improving Population Health: The Uses of Systematic Reviews. Sweet M, Moynihan R. Published by Milbank Memorial Fund with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: 2007. www.milbank.org.

Partnership for Prevention®

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Contact Us:
  • Community Guide Branch
    National Center for Health Marketing (NCHM)
    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
    1600 Clifton Road NE
    Mailstop E-69
    Atlanta, GA 30333
  • Community Guide
USA.gov: The U.S. Government's Official Web PortalDepartment of Health and Human Services
Community Guide Branch, National Center for Health Marketing (NCHM), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
1600 Clifton Rd NE, Mailstop E-69, Atlanta, GA 30333, U.S.A. communityguide@cdc.gov