A community health assessment refers to a system used to identify key issues in the health sector of states, tribe or a certain locality through systematic data collection methods and analysis (CDC, 2018) . The assessments are guided by a particular set of principles. Some of these are multi-sector collaborations between the private and public sector to ensure there is community health improvement (ASTHO, 2019) ; broad and active involvement of the community; absolute transparency to ensure community engagement is effective and the process is accountable and the use of data from high quality pools from both the private and public sector.
The prioritization process of the community health assessment seeks to identify the problems that need immediate action. The assessment goes through a number of steps to complete the process. The first step is to identify and involve the community stakeholders (Seligman, 2016) . This builds trustworthy relationships and creates a sense of ownership for the whole process. The next step is to define the community so as to determine the scope which the assessment will take. Collection and analyzing of data obtained from the community should follow. The data should then help in prioritizing on the main community health issues in the fourth step (Seligman, 2016) . The findings should then be communicated to stakeholders. The sixth step should be formulating improvement strategies for the affected areas. The strategies and plans should then be implemented. Progress should then be prioritized.
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Community health assessments have various benefits in the health sector. They help in identifying various problems that may be affecting the delivery of safe healthcare in the community. They help in finding ways in which such issues can be handled and minimized. It also strengthens partnerships between the private and public sector (Bender, 2017) . The assessment helps to identify benchmarks for public health improvements (CDC, 2018) . There is increased knowledge about public health and how various activities are interconnected.
References
ASTHO. (2019). Community Health Needs Assessments. Retrieved from Association of State and Territorial Health Officials: http://www.astho.org/Programs/Access/Community-Health-Needs-Assessments/
Bender, K. (2017). Knowing Your Community: Community Health Assessment as a Powerful Tool. Journal of Public Health Management & Practice, S6-S8. doi:10.1097/PHH.0000000000000599
CDC. (2018). Community Health Assessments & Health Improvement Plans . Retrieved from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/publichealthgateway/cha/plan.html
Seligman, K. (2016). Steps to Guide Your Community Health Needs Assessment. Hospitals and Health Networks.
