Health promotion

Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health. It goes beyond individual behaviours to address the social, economic, environmental, commercial and political conditions that shape health. The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion sets out five action areas:

• build healthy public policy – put health on the agenda of decision-makers in all sectors and at all levels
• create supportive environments – make living and working conditions safe, healthy and sustainable
• strengthen community action – support communities to set priorities, make decisions and act for their health
• develop personal skills – provide information and education so people can make healthy choices throughout life
• reorient health services – strengthen prevention and health promotion alongside clinical care.

Adopted in 1986 at the First International Conference on Health Promotion, the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion recognized that health is created in everyday life, not only in health care. Its strategies (advocate, enable, mediate) and five action areas remain the basis of health promotion today, and are increasingly relevant to challenges such as climate change, inequalities, digital transformation and the commercial determinants of health. It provides a foundation for shaping policies, investments and institutions so that they create healthier, fairer and more sustainable conditions for everyday life.

Health education helps people gain knowledge and skills; disease prevention focuses on reducing specific risks and diseases. Health promotion includes both, but its main focus is on changing the conditions in which people live – policies, environments and services – so that healthy choices are possible, affordable and fair for everyone.

A well-being approach puts people and the planet at the centre of decision-making. It applies health promotion principles to the way societies govern, invest, regulate, engage people and measure progress, so that policy, planning and budgeting are based on what matters most to people – their health, quality of life and equity – within planetary boundaries. It calls for whole-of-government action, social participation and ways of measuring progress beyond gross domestic product (GDP) – an agenda reflected in the Geneva Charter for Well-being and the UN Pact for the Future. A well-being approach considers both the needs of people today and the conditions that future generations will need to thrive.