Health promotion has been defined by the World Health Organization The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health Organization, which had been an agency of the's 2005 Bangkok Charter for Health Promotion in a Globalized World as "the process of enabling people to increase control over their health and its determinants, and thereby improve their health"[1]. The primary means of health promotion occur through developing healthy public policy that addresses the prerequisities of health such as income, housing, food security, employment, and quality working conditions. There is a tendency among public health officials and governments—and this is especially the case in liberal nations such as Canada and the USA—to reduce health promotion to health education and social marketing Social marketing is the systematic application of marketing, along with other concepts and techniques, to achieve specific behavioral goals for a social good. Social marketing can be applied to promote merit goods, or to make a society avoid demerit goods and thus to promote society's well being as a whole. For example, this may include asking focused on changing behavioral risk factors[2].
Recent work in the UK (Delphi consultation exercise due to be published late 2009 by Royal Society of Public Health and the National Social Marketing Centre) on relationship between health promotion and social marketing has highlighted and reinforce the potential integrative nature of the approaches. While an independent review (NCC 'It's Our Health!' 2006) identified that some social marketing has in past adopted a narrow or limited approach, the UK has increasingly taken a lead in the discussion and developed of much more integrative and strategic approach (see Strategic Social Marketing in 'Social Marketing and Public Health' 2009 Oxford Press) which adopts a whole-system and holistic approach, integrating the learning from effective health promotion approaches with relevant learning from social marketing and other disciplines. A key finding from the Delphi consultation was the need to avoid unnecessary and arbitrary 'methods wars' and instead focus on the issue of 'utility' and harnessing the potential of learning from multiple disciplines and sources. Such an approach is arguably how health promotion has developed over the years pulling in learning from different sectors and disciplines to enhance and develop.
Contents |
History
The "first and best known" definition of health promotion, promulgated by the American Journal of Health Promotion since at least 1986, is "the science and art of helping people change their lifestyle to move toward a state of optimal health"[3][4]. This definition was derived from the 1974 Lalonde report The Lalonde report is a 1974 report produced in Canada formally entitled A new perspective on the health of Canadians. It is considered the "first modern government document in the Western world to acknowledge that our emphasis upon a biomedical health care system is wrong, and that we need to look beyond the traditional health care system if from the Government of Canada[3], which contained a health promotion strategy "aimed at informing, influencing and assisting both individuals and organizations so that they will accept more responsibility and be more active in matters affecting mental and physical health"[5]. Another predecessor of the definition was the 1979 Healthy People report of the Surgeon General of the United States The Surgeon General of the United States is the operational head of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government. The Surgeon General's office and staff are known as the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG)[3], which noted that health promotion "seeks the development of community and individual measures which can help... [people] to develop lifestyles that can maintain and enhance the state of well-being"[6].
At least two publications led to a "broad empowerment/environmental" definition of health promotion in the mid-1980s[3]:
- In 1984 the World Health Organization The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health Organization, which had been an agency of the (WHO) Regional Office for Europe defined health promotion as "the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health"[7]. In addition to methods to change lifestyles, the WHO Regional Office advocated "legislation, fiscal measures, organisational change, community development and spontaneous local activities against health hazards" as health promotion methods[7].
- In 1986, Jake Epp, Canadian Minister of National Health and Welfare The Minister of Health is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the federal government's health department (Health Canada) and the enforcing the Public Health Agency of Canada, Canada Health Act, the law governing Medicare. The current Minister of Health is Leona Aglukkaq, MP for Nunavut, released Achieving health for all: a framework for health promotion which also came to be known as the "Epp report"[3][8]. This report defined the three "mechanisms" of health promotion as "self-care"; "mutual aid, or the actions people take to help each other cope"; and "healthy environments"[8].
The WHO, in collaboration with other organizations, has subsequently co-sponsored international conferences on health promotion as follows:
- 1st International Conference on Health Promotion, Ottawa Ottawa ( /ˈɒtəwə/ or sometimes /ˈɒtəwɑː/) is the capital of Canada, a municipality and the second largest city within the province of Ontario. Located in the Ottawa Valley in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario, the city lies on the southern banks of the Ottawa River, a major waterway forming the local boundary between the provinces, 1986, which resulted in the "Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion is a 1986 document produced by the World Health Organization. It was launched at the first international conference for health promotion that was held in Ottawa, Canada"[9]. According to the Ottawa Charter, health promotion[9]:
- "is not just the responsibility of the health sector, but goes beyond healthy life-styles to well-being"
- "aims at making... [political, economic, social, cultural, environmental, behavioural and biological factors] favourable through advocacy for health"
- "focuses on achieving equity in health"
- "demands coordinated action by all concerned: by governments, by health and other social and economic sectors, by nongovernmental and voluntary organization, by local authorities, by industry and by the media"
- "should be adapted to the local needs and possibilities of individual countries and regions to take into account differing social, cultural and economic systems"
- In addition, the Ottawa Charter conceptualized "health promotion action" as "Build Healthy Public Policy," "Create Supportive Environments," "Strengthen Community Actions," "Develop Personal Skills," "Reorient Health Services" (i.e., "beyond its responsibility for providing clinical and curative services"), and "Moving into the Future."
- 2nd International Conference on Health Promotion, Adelaide Adelaide is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of South Australia, and is the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.28 million. A resident of Adelaide is known as an "Adelaidean".[citation needed], 1988, which resulted in the "Adelaide Recommendations on Healthy Public Policy"[10].
- 3rd International Conference on Health Promotion, Sundsvall The town was chartered in 1621, and a first urban plan for Sundsvall was probably created by Olof Bure in 1642, less likely in 1623. It has a port by the Gulf of Bothnia, and is located 395 km north of Stockholm. The city has burned down and been rebuilt four times. The first time, in 1721, it was set on fire by the Russian army during the Great, 1991, which resulted in the "Sundsvall Statement on Supportive Environments for Health"[11].
- 4th International Conference on Health Promotion, Jakarta Jakarta , officially the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Located on the northwest coast of Java, it has an area of 661 square kilometres (255 sq mi) and a population of 8,490,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political center. It is the most populous city in Indonesia and in, 1997, which resulted in the "Jakarta Declaration on Leading Health Promotion into the 21st Century"[12].
- 5th Global Conference on Health Promotion, Mexico City Mexico City is the capital and largest city in the country of Mexico. Mexico City is also the Federal District (Distrito Federal), seat of the federal government. The Federal District is considered a federal entity within Mexico and is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole. It is the most important, 2000, which resulted in the "Mexico Ministerial Statement for the Promotion of Health"[13].
- 6th Global Conference on Health Promotion, Bangkok Bangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (Thai: กรุงเทพมหานคร, pronounced [krūŋ tʰêːp máhǎː nákʰɔ̄ːn]), or กรุงเทพฯ Krung Thep ( [listen]) (help·info), meaning "city of angels" for short, it was a small trading, 2005, which resulted in the "Bangkok Charter for Health Promotion in a Globalized World"[14].
Altogether, the documents produced by conference attendees emphasized "investing in health promotion beyond an individual, disease-oriented, behaviour-change model"[15].
Worksite health promotion
Health promotion can be performed in various locations. Among the settings that have received special attention are the community, health care facilities, schools, and worksites[16]. Worksite health promotion, also known by terms such as "workplace health promotion," has been defined as "the combined efforts of employers, employees and society to improve the health and well-being of people at work"[17][18]. WHO states that the workplace "has been established as one of the priority settings for health promotion into the 21st century" because it influences "physical, mental, economic and social well-being" and "offers an ideal setting and infrastructure to support the promotion of health of a large audience"[19].
Worksite health promotion programs (also called "workplace health promotion programs," "worksite wellness programs," or "workplace wellness programs") include exercise, nutrition, smoking cessation and stress management. Reviews and meta-analyses In statistics, a meta-analysis combines the results of several studies that address a set of related research hypotheses. In its simplest form, this is normally by identification of a common measure of "effect size", for which a weighted average might be the output of a meta-analyses. Here the weighting might be related to sample sizes published between 2005 and 2008 that examined the scientific literature on worksite health promotion programs include the following:
- A review of 13 studies published through January 2004 showed "strong evidence... for an effect on dietary intake, inconclusive evidence for an effect on physical activity, and no evidence for an effect on health risk indicators"[20].
- In the most recent of a series of updates to a review of "comprehensive health promotion and disease management programs at the worksite," Pelletier (2005) noted "positive clinical and cost outcomes" but also found declines in the number of relevant studies and their quality[21].
- A "meta-evaluation" of 56 studies published 1982-2005 found that worksite health promotion produced on average a decrease of 26.8% in sick leave absenteeism, a decrease of 26.1% in health costs, a decrease of 32% in workers’ compensation costs and disability management claims costs, and a cost-benefit ratio of 5.81[22].
- A meta-analysis of 46 studies published 1970-2005 found moderate, statistically significant effects of work health promotion, especially exercise, on "work ability" and "overall well-being"; furthermore, "sickness absences seem to be reduced by activities promoting healthy lifestyle"[23].
- A meta-analysis of 22 studies published 1997-2007 determined that workplace health promotion interventions led to "small" reductions in depression and anxiety[24].
- A review of 119 studies suggested that successful work site health-promotion programs have attributes such as: assessing employees' health needs and tailoring programs to meet those needs; attaining high participation rates; promoting self-care; targeting several health issues simultaneously; and offering different types of activities (e.g., group sessions as well as print materials)[25].
Health promotion entities and projects by country
Worldwide, government agencies (such as health departments A health department is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their own. Health departments perform food licensing and food inspection , vaccination programs, free STD and AIDS tests, and other) and non-governmental organizations A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted, non-governmental organization created by natural or legal persons with no participation or representation of any government. In the cases in which NGOs are funded totally or partially by governments, the NGO maintains its non-governmental status by excluding government representatives from have substantial efforts in the area of health promotion. Some of these entities and projects are:
International and multinational
The WHO and its Regional Offices such as the Pan American Health Organization The Pan American Health Organization is an international public health agency with over 100 years of experience working to improve health and living standards of the people of the Americas. It enjoys international recognition as part of the United Nations system, serving as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization, and are influential in health promotion around the world[26]. The International Union for Health Promotion and Education, based in France, holds international, regional, and national conferences[27][28].
Australia
The Australian Health Promotion Association, a professional body A professional association is a non-profit organization seeking to further a particular profession, the interests of individuals engaged in that profession, and the public interest, was incorporated in 1988[29]. In November 2008, the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission released a paper recommending a national health promotion agency[30]. ACT Health of the Australian Capital Territory supports health promotion with funding and information dissemination[31]. The Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) from the state of Victoria Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north, South Australia to the west, and Tasmania to the south, across the Bass Strait. Victoria is the most densely populated state, and has a highly centralised population, with over 70% of Victorians is "the world’s first health promotion foundation to be funded by a tax on tobacco. "[32].
Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:11:17 GMT+00:00
problems isleofman.com The Social Services Mental Health promotion team wants to increase awareness that everybody needs to be concerned about good mental health and well being. ...
unknown
ue, 17 Aug 2010 17:38:44 GM
Since 2002, AUCD has worked collaboratively with CDC's NCBDDD to strengthen public health activities in the areas of birth defects, developmental disabilities, and . health promotion. for people living with disabilities. ...
