A community health needs assessment (sometimes called a CHNA), refers to a state, tribal, local, or territorial health assessment that identifies key health needs and issues through systematic, comprehensive data collection and analysis. Community health assessments use such principles as:
Multisector collaborations that support shared ownership of all phases of community health improvement, including assessment, planning, investment, implementation, and evaluation.
Proactive, broad, and diverse community engagement to improve results.
A definition of community that encompasses both a significant enough area to allow for population-wide interventions and measurable results, and includes a targeted focus to address disparities among subpopulations.
Maximum transparency to improve community engagement and accountability.
Use of evidence-based interventions and encouragement of innovative practices with thorough evaluation.
Evaluation to inform a continuous improvement process.
Use of the highest quality data pooled from, and shared among, diverse public and private sources
