ABSTRACT
The conditions for healthy living are shaped by public policies, mediated in their development and implementation by governmental and other organisations. Public policy is a guide to government action in order to alter what would otherwise occur; its purpose is to achieve a more desirable or at least acceptable state of affairs. An understanding of policy making can guide strategic planning so as to affect the direction and pace of policy making in order to improve the prospects for the health of populations; that is, it can increase the odds of designing and reaching health-supporting policy goals by guiding the selection and execution of the means to influence policy decisions.
