Health Program Planning
Pre-Course Worksheet
Welcome to the Health Program Planning course. To use our time efficiently during this course,
we would like you to come to the training with the health problem you will be addressing in your
program and some preliminary data to help you understand the problem and how it affects your
population. Please complete the following steps and fill out the information below before the day
the course begins. Bring the completed worksheet to class with you.
Try to complete this worksheet with the members of your team who will be attending the training
or assisting in planning or implementation of the program. The worksheet should take your
team between 2 and 3 hours to complete, but may take more or less time, depending on what
information you already have. To help you work through each section, an example related to
lung cancer has been provided.
Step 1: HEALTH ISSUE
This should be the health issue your supervisor, organization, or Ministry has asked you to
address. If you have not been given a broad health issue to address, please select one that has
a significant impact on your community and that you believe you have the resources to address.
We will work on refining these during the course. Examples include: HIV/AIDS, Cervical
Cancer, Heart Disease, Cholera, Tuberculosis, Malaria, etc.
Health Issue
Example: Lung Cancer
STEP 2: BASIC ANALYSIS OF HEALTH ISSUE
Now that you’ve identified your health issue, you’ll need to do some preliminary exploration to
further your understanding of this issue. The purpose of this step is to gain a basic
understanding of the health issue, the subgroups of the population it affects, the factors that
place individuals at risk, and commonly accepted practices for reducing incidence and treating
those affected.
Possible Sources: Reputable websites (www.cdc.gov, www.who.int, www.globalhealthfacts.org)
books, Journal articles, experts you’ve worked with in past projects; other published materials.
Affected Population Subgroups (Who does this affect? There may be multiple subgroups for
your health issue. You will prioritize these groups during the workshop.)
Example: Adolescent males aged 13-21.
Risk Factors and Contributing Factors (What characteristics contribute to the health issue?
This can include biological, behavioral, social , and environmental factors)
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Health Program Planning
Pre-Course Worksheet
Example: Tobacco use, lack of anti-smoking policies, lower socioeconomic status, lower
education, social acceptance of adolescent smoking, etc.
Recommendations for Prevention (What are the commonly accepted practices for reducing
the incidence of the health issue? These may come from literature or from community
experience)
Example: Policies that ban smoking; smoke-free workplaces; increase the price of
tobacco; media campaigns; public education; point of sale restrictions.
Recommendations for Treatment (What are the commonly accepted practices for treating this
health issue? These may come from literature or from community experience)
Example: Tobacco dependence treatment: Counseling; first-line pharmacotherapies:
Bupropion SR, Nicotine gum, Nicotine inhaler, Nicotine nasal spray, or Nicotine patch;
second-line pharmacotherapies: Clonidine, or Nortriptyline.
Additional Key Information (Any other critical information about your health issue that will help
you in planning your program.)
Example: Effective cessation of tobacco use requires a significant investment in
stakeholder coordination to ensure support from all sectors of society.
STEP 3: POPULATION DATA
Now that you have an understanding of the problem on a larger scale, you’ll need to collect
some data on the population your program will address. For this worksheet, your population
includes those individuals who are affected by the health issue that you may be targeting for this
program.
Possible Data Sources: Health records from local hospitals; survey results from community,
district, or National level; health data from previous years to identify changes in the incidence
and prevalence of your problem over the past few years.
Please describe your population. Examples include, ‘Women over 50 in Districts A and B’, ‘all
individuals in Village A’, or ‘Children under 5 in Country A’. (Note: If there are multiple segments
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Health Program Planning
Pre-Course Worksheet
of the population affected, you may list all of these and collect more general data about your
population.)
My population:
Example: Male adolescents in District A between the ages of 13 and 21.
Incidence (New cases of a disease over a period of time) and prevalence (all existing cases of
a disease at a particular time) of health issue in your Population: (Note: If you do not have
incidence/prevalence data, you may list whatever data you possess about your health issue and
how it affects your population)
Most Recent Data (Please list year of data)
Incidence
Example: 2009 – 0.9 per 100,000 Males; 0.7 per 100,000 Females
Prevalence
Example: 2009 - Male 25.1%; Females 19.3%
Data from Previous Year (1-5 years older than data listed above)
Incidence
Example: 2005 – 0.5 per 100,000 Males; 0.3 per 100,000 Females
Prevalence
Example: 2005 – Male 20%; Female 15.5%
Additional
Key Data
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Health Program Planning
Pre-Course Worksheet
STEP 4: STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS
Prior to beginning your program, you’ll want to have an understanding of who will be involved in
its planning and implementation and how you can best work with these individuals. With your
health issue in mind for your population, please complete the PREREQUISITE COURSE,
“Stakeholder Analysis”. Then fill out the information in the box below.
List up to 10 of your most critical stakeholders. Be sure to include all five types of stakeholders
if they are relevant to your project: beneficiaries, supporters, opponents, resource providers,
vulnerable groups. Also list briefly why their involvement or opinion is important for your project.
Stakeholder
Example: Parents
Why is their involvement or opinion important for your
project?
Example: They need to support programs involving their
adolescent children to increase the number of adolescents
who will participate.
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Congratulations! You’ve completed the pre-course worksheet. Please
bring this worksheet and all critical data to class.
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