Evaluation: A method for gathering, evaluating, and interpreting data in order to assess the efficacy and efficiency of programs and, more significantly, to contribute to continual program improvement.
Program: Any organized public health action; any combination of connected activities conducted to accomplish an intended goal. Policy, interventions, environmental, systems, and media activities, as well as other endeavors, are all included in the CDC's definition of program. It also includes initiatives in readiness, as well as research, capacity, and infrastructure.
Purpose:
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a long-standing commitment to data-driven decision-making, as well as the duty to describe the effects of its public-health dollars.
- Strong program assessment can assist us in identifying our finest investments and determining how to develop and maintain them as best practices.
- The purpose is to promote the use of evaluation data across the agency for ongoing program improvement.