[Public health work needs new evaluation models. Primary care projects are more effective than large scale campaigns].

The need both of critical assessment of community intervention programmes and of alternatives to randomised controlled studies is discussed in the article. Examples are drawn from a review recently completed for the Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care [Statens Beredning för Utvärdering av medicinsk metodik (SBU)], and from the evaluation of a cardiovascular disease prevention programme currently in progress in northern Sweden.