Evaluation in the field of public health – the work of The Swedish National Institute of Public Health

David Berglund, Evaluator, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Sweden

The presentation gives an overview of the monitoring and evaluations used by the Swedish National Institute of Public Health. The aim of the session in to present methods of evaluation used outside the environmental field. This can serve as a benchmark for comparing environmental evaluations to another field.

It has now been 10 years since the Swedish government established a national public health policy based on the social determinants of health, embodied by one overarching goal: to create societal conditions that will ensure good health, on equal terms, for the entire population. Eleven goal areas which covered the most important determinants of Swedish public health were established under this overarching goal, together with a comprehensive set of indicators to follow the health progress of the population.

The monitoring and evaluation of these goal areas are done in different ways. This presentation will cover 4 aspects:

1. A national public health survey, Health on Equal Terms, has been conducted yearly since 2004. The survey shows the state of the popu|ation’s health and follows changes over time.
2. The survey selection consists of a total of 20 O00 people, aged 16-84 year.
3. Public Health Policy Report 2010. The report shows how health has developed in recent years and indicates future challenges and ways to tackle these challenges.
4. Health economics is becoming a more important tool for determining if investments in health will likely to be Cost effective.
5. Systematic reviews as evaluations (ex ante) of expected outcomes of measures aiming to improve public health