Governments have several instruments or tools available to implement their policies, including legislation and regulations, taxation and financial incentives, information and coordination, and provision of direct service–all of which work at the population level, except the last. Sound health policy can made a vital contribution to the health of the population, by addressing important health issues, avoiding adverse health outcomes and efficiently using resources.

Different countries have very different approaches to policy, from planned economies, which have very visible policies (five-year plans, and the like), to countries like Canada, where policies can be very hard to identify (instead of grand schemes, we practise incrementalism, a form of ad hoc policy-making that usually involves making minor adjustments to existing policy). Although it is sometimes suggested that the latter countries have no policies, in fact the policies do exist, implicitly, and they can often be found in such places as Ministers’ speeches or the preambles to legislation (of course, absence of policy is also a policy–the policy of not intervening). Policy is usually made by politicians (with the assistance of public servants) and is implemented by public servants (under the supervision of politicians).