MAPP

The Elements of MAPP

The MAPP tool was designed to include the following key elements.

1) MAPP emphasizes a community-driven and community–owned approach — Because the community's strengths, needs and desires drive the process, MAPP provides the framework for creating a truly community-driven initiative. This creates stronger connections throughout the community and provides access to the collective wisdom necessary for addressing community concerns.

2) MAPP builds on previous experiences and lessons learned — Information from previous planning efforts and established assessment tools was used in developing MAPP. Most notably, MAPP builds on the Assessment Protocol for Excellence in Public Health (APEXPH). Released in 1991, APEXPH has guided hundreds of local health departments through internal organizational capacity assessments and collaborative community health assessment processes. While building on the familiar concepts of APEXPH, MAPP is more progressive in a variety of ways:

APEX PH

• Builds local health leadership
• Assesses local health capacity for delivering public health services
• Provides operational planning
• Focuses on health status
• Develops plans to address needs
• Builds local health leadership, but also promotes community responsibility for the health of the public
• Assesses capacity of entire local health system
• Provides opportunity for strategic planning
• Focuses on health status, community perceptions, forces of change and local health system capacities
• Strategically matches needs, resources, ideas and actions
   

MAPP uses traditional strategic planning concepts within its model — Strategic planning assists communities in more effectively securing resources, matching needs with assets, responding to external circumstances, anticipating and managing change, and establishing a long-range direction for the community. The MAPP model includes basic strategic planning concepts, such as visioning, an environmental scan, the identification of strategic issues, and the formulation of strategies.

MAPP focuses on the creation and strengthening of the local health system — Local health systems are the human, informational, financial and organizational resources, including public, private and voluntary organizations and individuals that contribute to the public's health. This focus is important because the public's health depends on the interaction of many factors; thus, the health of a community is a shared responsibility of many entities and organizations, in the community. The MAPP process brings these diverse interests together to collaboratively determine the most effective way to conduct public health activities.

5) MAPP creates health leadership opportunities — While MAPP focuses on the local health system, it is anticipated that leadership roles in initiating MAPP could come from any interested entity - public or private - in the community. Thus, MAPP will help to create a greater recognition of the importance of the health system and the potential to impact health of the community.

6) MAPP uses the Essential Public Health Services to define public health activities — The Essential Public Health Services and other public health practice concepts have been incorporated into MAPP, providing much-needed links with other public health initiatives. The Essential Public Health Services are a list of ten public health activities that should be undertaken in all jurisdictions.

The use of the Essential Services framework and the focus on the local health system provides a crucial link with the National Public Health Performance Standards Program (NPHPSP), developed by CDC, NACCHO, and other national public health organizations. The local-level instrument of the NPHPSP is an integral part of MAPP's Local Health System Assessment.