Promoting Healthier Communities Through the Delaware State Health Improvement Plan

The Delaware State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) is a statewide, multi-year strategic plan that aims to address Delaware's most pressing health issues.The SHIP, in its fourth year of a five-year action plan, is led through a collaboration involving the Delaware Division of Public Health (DPH), the University of Delaware (UD) Department of Epidemiology, and the UD Partnership for Healthy Communities (PHC), which together form the SHIP internal team.The purpose of the SHIP is to outline objectives and strategies for implementation across five health priorities identified through a State Health Assessment (SHA): mental health, chronic disease, maternal and infant health, avoidable injury, and premature death.Since the SHIP's publication in April 2025, the SHIP internal team has worked with the SHIP Partnership Coalition to actively implement the plan and refine its strategies.This commentary highlights the SHIP's objectives and the progress made toward them. The SHIP Partnership CoalitionThe Delaware State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) internal team connects with stakeholders and representatives across the state who form the SHIP Partnership Coalition.The Partnership Coalition consists of community-based organizations, non-profits, and federal agencies representing all sectors across the state, including health systems, education, transportation, housing, and more.The Partnership Coalition was created to bring together institutions and groups from all sectors to collaborate toward our common goal of improving the health of Delawareans.Thus, the Partnership Coalition is the active implementer of SHIP strategies.Before the implementation phase, the Partnership Coalition played an active role in shaping the SHIP.The Partnership Coalition members provided feedback on the state's goals, objectives, and strategies during bimonthly meetings throughout 2024.After the SHIP was developed in April 2025, SHIP Partnership Coalition members met regularly to discuss organizational updates that further support SHIP objectives and strategies.The Partnership Coalition members also address any community-level challenges so the coalition can continue to advance the organization's mission and, in turn, SHIP goals. Stakeholder Engagement and Strategic AlignmentMany organizations in Delaware are implementing SHIP strategies to promote the state's health goals.The SHIP primarily targets stakeholders and community-based organizations rather than the general public or individuals.The SHIP internal team champions the state's health priorities by focusing on capacity building, public health messaging, and sharing information and support.These initiatives enable the SHIP to assist local organizations through strategic planning, Doi: 10.32481/djph.2026.05.08 research, data translation, and cross-sector collaboration.Wongsin et al. examined studies that demonstrated the relationship between strategic planning and organizational performance in the public health sector. 1 This research indicates that having a public health strategic plan, like the SHIP, positively influences organizational performance, including goal achievement. 1 This is important because when stakeholder or organizational goals align with SHIP's goals, the strategies being employed to advance health are more effective.Furthermore, partnerships between community agencies and public and private institutions, such as the Partnership Coalition, have been shown to be one of the most promising practice-based approaches in public health as different systems collaborate to cross-share resources and information, thus improving health outcomes from a multi-systemic approach. 2Additional reviews have found that public health partnerships, such as the Partnership Coalition, lead to improvements in health outcomes that align with many of our objectives, including infant mortality, tobacco use, alcohol use, physical activity, and car crashes. 3This directly honors the SHIP's main tenets: community engagement and de-fragmentation.The SHIP is directly influenced by the Vital Conditions of Health and Well-Being Framework seven domains or the properties that communities need to be able to thrive.If a gap exists in one area, it affects all others. 4This principle guides the SHIP, which includes input from key sectors-such as transportation, housing, education, and nonprofits-to promote a multi-systemic approach and break down silos.By prioritizing the Partnership Coalition's feedback, SHIP's goals, objectives, and strategies remain aligned with the communities most impacted.