EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNITY HEALTH PROGRAMMES Reflections on practise

Some guidelines have identified a number of evidence-based community health programmes and initiatives with the goal to promote a series of interventions and approaches in order to address and reduce risk factors and the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and achieve the best outcomes. This chapter explores several community-based programmes and evaluates the usefulness of evidence-based practice (EBP), better known as evidence-based medicine (EBM). In particular, this chapter reflects on the feasibility and applicability of evidence-based community health programmes for diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Challenges and suggestions to improve evidence-based practices in public health are illustrated.