Building a Sustainable Program: From the Public Health Perspective 

Applying Public Health Strategies for Sustainable Program Success

 Written by: Whitney R. Johnson, MS, MPH, CHES®
Reviewed by: Leah Nelson, MPH, CHES®

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, people associate public health with shutdowns, vaccines, and immunization. However, public health is not limited to pandemics. It has an impact on every aspect of life. Public health promotes healthy lifestyles, educates communities, conducts research, and advocates for safe environments.  Professionals in the field work across many industries to create policies and regulations that keep our communities running safely and efficiently.

While public health professionals often view health through a broad lens, the strategies they use to address everything from local issues to global needs can be beneficial to program development. Public health strategies aim to achieve sustainable outcomes and long-term improvements in people’s health and quality of life. These strategies should be considered when developing or evaluating a program to address health issues within a community.

To effectively create programs from a public health perspective, start by asking three key questions: Why does it matter? What are the benefits? Is it sustainable? Below is a quick guide to addressing and measuring these questions.

Why does it matter?

• Identify the need. Assessing a community’s needs before implementing a program helps determine not only its potential for success, but also whether community members are likely to participate. Polling and surveying community members about their needs directly engages individuals who may benefit from the program. An idea becomes a great program when there is a need and community interest (SAGE Study Group, 2022). 

• KISS, Keep it Simple and Straight-forward. The best way to keep people interested and engaged is to make the information easy to understand. Avoid confusing medical terms and aim to keep messaging at a 5^th grade reading level so everyone has the opportunity to engage. 

• Establish a purpose. Establishing the program’s purpose and intended benefits is essential to directing it towards success. Is the goal of the program to simply provide information, or is the program aiming to help participants understand why change is needed and support them in taking action? When a program’s purpose resonates with the community, it is more likely to gain support and participation.  

What are the benefits? 

• Teach skills. Are participants leaving walking away with something they can use? Infographics and information flyers are great, but they can often be ineffective in encouraging actionable change. If a program promotes good nutrition, showing participants how to read a label at the grocery store can be more beneficial than simply giving them a pamphlet.  

• Track success, not attendance. Attendance isn’t the only measure of success. It minimally indicates whether a program was effective. Measuring how many people learned or benefited provides a stronger indicator of success.  

• Welcome feedback. The easiest way to determine program effectiveness is to simply ask participants about their experience. Using a post-program evaluation or a suggestion box can provide firsthand data on how the program was received and if improvements are needed. Welcoming feedback allows for real-time change and helps avoid extended time spent implementing programs that are not effective.   

Is it sustainable? 

• Build it to last. Successful programs outlast their creators. Sustainability means enduring leadership changes. Training local leaders or handing programs to community groups increases long-term success. Rooting a program locally helps it grow and thrive (Raber et al., 2025). 

• Make it a staple. Another important component of sustainability is a program’s collaboration with other existing programs or events. Programs integrated into school or community center events, or other regularly occurring community activities, are more likely to become routine and sustained over time. 

• Have backup plans. Unlimited backup plans may be unrealistic but planning for unexpected scenarios increases the likelihood of success. Backup options for funding or program components help prevent early endings or program failure. Prepare for surprises to protect the program’s future. 

Program success truly happens when health programs become an extension of the community they serve. Research in implementation science stresses that sustainability is intentional and is structured into a program from the beginning (Moreland-Russell et al., 2024). Bookmark this guide for future brainstorming or share it with community organizations. By applying these key strategies, more health programs can be built to last.