Nutrition and Physical Activity: Wisconsin State Plan - Surveillance

The ability to obtain and effectively use the best available evidence, including surveillance and evaluation data, new research, and other resources for evidence-based practice, is critical to the success of efforts to prevent obesity and promote healthy behaviors. Access to high-quality evidence and the frameworks, methods, tools, and knowledge required to use it appropriately are critical to every step in public health practice, including assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation.

During assessment and planning, surveillance and evaluation data, formative assessment results, and relevant plans and research help ensure the most appropriate targeting of settings and populations and choice of intervention strategies. Such evidence can also unify diverse groups of stakeholders in working toward common goals. Evidence collected through evaluation can demonstrate effectiveness of initiatives to stakeholders, including target communities or populations, alert partners of a need to adapt plans or procedures, guide decisions about further dissemination or scaling, and provide accountability to funding organizations.

Surveillance and Evaluation Strategies, P-00507-2surv (PDF)

View the objectives and full list of strategies for implementing policy in a variety of settings.

Key strategies overview

• Plan and begin to develop one or more coordinated systems among partners for obtaining and sharing data and other types of evidence and the knowledge and standards needed to use these appropriately, to foster and maintain an effective, sustainable systems approach to obesity prevention throughout the state.
• Maintain and continue to develop surveillance and monitoring systems and foster the development, sharing, and use of evaluation resources to support the various levels and approaches of state and local obesity prevention efforts throughout the state.