Health promotion emblem

World Health Organization Health Promotion Overview

The 1st International Conference on Health Promotion

  • Date and Venue: Held on November 21, 1986, in Ottawa, Canada.

  • Purpose: Presentation of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, aiming for Health for All by the year 2000 and beyond.

  • Context: This conference was a response to the rising expectations for a new global public health movement.

  • Focus: While primarily addressing the needs of industrialized nations, it recognized similar issues in other regions.

  • Foundation: Built on prior health initiatives such as the Declaration on Primary Health Care at Alma-Ata, the WHO's Targets for Health for All document, and discussions at the World Health Assembly on intersectoral action for health.

Definition of Health Promotion

  • Concept: Health promotion is defined as the process of enabling individuals and communities to increase control over, and to improve, their health.

  • Conditions for Health: To achieve complete physical, mental, and social well-being, individuals or groups must:

    • Identify and realize their aspirations.

    • Satisfy their needs.

    • Change their environment to support health.

    • Acknowledge the importance of peace, shelter, education, food, income, stable ecosystems, sustainable resources, social justice, and equity as prerequisites for health.

Responsibility for Health Promotion

  • Holistic Approach: Health promotion requires action from various sectors beyond just the health care sector:

    • Governments, health and social sectors, non-governmental organizations, local authorities, industry, and media must coordinate efforts.

    • Individuals, families, communities, and professional health personnel play roles in mediating different societal interests in the pursuit of health.

  • Local Adaptation: Health promotion strategies should be adaptable to the specific needs and conditions of individual countries and regions, considering social, cultural, and economic variations.

Health Promotion Action Areas

  1. Building Healthy Public Policy

    • Definition: Health promotion goes beyond traditional healthcare, embedding health considerations in all aspects of policy-making across sectors and levels.

    • Components: Involves legislation, fiscal measures, taxation, and organizational changes, leading to policies that promote equity and health.

    • Goal: Identify and remove barriers to public health policy adoption in non-health sectors, ensuring healthy choices are easier to make for policymakers.

  2. Creating Supportive Environments

    • Principle: Health is interconnected with broader societal goals.

    • Socioecological Approach: The environment greatly influences health, emphasizing the need for reciprocity in community and environmental care.

    • Impact of Lifestyle Changes: Changing work and leisure patterns affect health; thus, healthier organizational practices must be established.

    • Health Impact Assessment: Regular assessments of how changes, especially technological, industrial, and urbanization trends, affect public health are necessary, ensuring positive health outcomes.

  3. Strengthening Community Actions

    • Community Empowerment: Health promotion relies on effective community involvement in prioritizing, deciding, planning, and implementing health initiatives.

    • Community Development: Builds on existing resources in communities to foster self-help, social support, and public participation in health issues.

    • Access to Information: Continuous access to health information and learning is crucial, alongside provision of funding support.

  4. Developing Personal Skills

    • Support for Development: Health promotion enhances personal and social skills through education and information dissemination, enabling better health choices.

    • Lifelong Learning: Encourages individuals to prepare for all life stages and manage chronic illnesses, facilitated by educational and community settings.

  5. Reorienting Health Services

    • Shared Responsibility: The responsibility for health promotion in the community and health services involves everyone from individuals to governments.

    • Expanded Role of Health Sector: Health services must move beyond clinical and curative roles to embrace health promotion responsibilities, considering cultural needs and community health requirements.

    • Focus on Holistic Needs: A comprehensive approach is needed to address the total needs of individuals, while also enhancing health research, education, and training.

Moving into the Future

  • Everyday Health: Recognizes that health is shaped by day-to-day activities in various settings, emphasizing the importance of self-care and community support.

  • Guiding Principles: Strategies for health promotion should prioritize equal partnership among stakeholders, advocating for the involvement of both women and men in planning and performing health initiatives.

Commitment to Health Promotion

  • Pledge by Conference Participants: Participants committed to:

    • Advocate for healthy public policy and political commitment to health across all sectors.

    • Address challenges such as unhealthy products, environmental concerns, and societal health inequities.

    • Acknowledge the essential role of people as health resources and support community involvement in health matters.

    • Collaborate across sectors to reorient resources towards health promotion and recognize health maintenance as a social investment.

    • Address ecological living challenges to ensure a healthy future.

Call for International Action

  • Action Request: The conference called on the WHO and international organizations to promote health strategies effectively across all platforms, supporting countries in developing health promotion initiatives.

  • Vision of Health for All: A unifying belief that through collective efforts, Health for All by the year 2000 can be achieved, grounded in moral and social values.

Logo and Symbolism

  • Ottawa Charter Logo: The original design includes an outer circle, a central spot, and three wings symbolizing key areas of health promotion action:

    • Breaking the Circle: Represents the need for community action and personal skill development as essential components of health promotion.

    • Supporting Environments: Emphasizes creating environments that support health.

    • Reorienting Services: Indicates the need for health services that focus on preventive health as key to health promotion efforts.

  • Jakarta Modification: Adaptations made to the logo for the fourth conference in Jakarta in 1997, showcasing cultural relevance while preserving the essential meanings and approaches from the Ottawa Charter.