Health Policy Brief

Depending upon how you’ve decided to address the community’s health needs, select and use a Microsoft Word newsletter template (Links to an external site.) https://templates.office.com/en-us/newsletters to create either a policy brief, that proposes an advocacy agenda OR a fact sheet, that will be used to communicate health information. After reading: Advocacy 101: Getting Started in Health Education Advocacy (SOPHE, 2004) (Links to an external site.) and How to Write A Policy Brief (APA) (Links to an external site.), follow the guide to Policy Briefs (UNC at Chapel Hill Writing Center) (Links to an external site.) to create an appropriate advocacy agenda that is aimed at legislators, public officials, and other government policy makers who are interested in formulating or influencing policy. Your policy brief must include these required elements: Title: A good title quickly communicates the contents of the brief in a memorable way. Executive Summary: This section is often one to two paragraphs long; it includes an overview of the problem and the proposed policy action. Context or Scope of Problem: This section communicates the importance of the problem and aims to convince the reader of the necessity of policy action. Critique of Policy Options: This section discusses the current policy approach and explains proposed options. It should be fair and accurate while convincing the reader why the policy action proposed in the brief is the most desirable. Policy Recommendations: This section contains the most detailed explanation of the concrete steps to be taken to address the policy issue. Appendices (optional): If some readers might need further support in order to accept your argument but doing so in the brief itself might derail the conversation for other readers, you might include the extra information in an appendix. Consulted or recommended Sources: These should be reliable sources that you have used throughout your brief to guide your policy discussion and recommendations for further reading. Examples: Search Google for “health policy brief example (Links to an external site.)” and view the print/pdf versions of CDC policy briefs, or any of the other briefs that interest you.