Essay Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion – Nursing Assignment Help

Assignment Task :

Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion 

Summary 

The first International Conference on Health Promotion was held in Ottawa, Canada in November 1986. The aim of the conference was action to achieve Health for all by the year 2000 and beyond. The Ottawa Conference is one of five International Health Promotion Conferences, exploring key health promotion strategies or issues. 

The first International Conference on Health Promotion was held in Ottawa, Canada in November, 1986. The conference was primarily a response to growing expectations for a new public health movement around the world. Discussions focused on needs within industrialised countries, but took into account similar concerns in all other regions. 

The aim of the conference was to continue to identify action to achieve the objectives of the World Health Organization (WHO) Health for all by the year 2000 initiative, launched in 1981. 

The Ottawa Conference was preceded by the Alma Ata Primary Health Care Conference in 1978, and followed by further international health promotion conferences in Adelaide (1988), Sundsvall (1991), Jakarta (1997), Mexico (2000), Bangkok (2005) and Nairobi (2009). 

Each conference continues to strengthen health promotion principles and practice, such as healthy public policy, supportive environments, building healthy alliances and bridging the equity gap. 

The following information is taken from the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. 

Health promotion 

Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over and improve their health. Health is seen as a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living. Health promotion is not just the responsibility of the health sector, but goes beyond healthy lifestyles to wellbeing. 

The fundamental conditions and resources needed for good health are: 

Peace Shelter Education Food Income A stable ecosystem Sustainable resources Social justice and equity. 

Three basic strategies for health promotion 

The Ottawa Charter identifies three basic strategies for health promotion: 

Advocate – good health is a major resource for social, economic and personal development, and an important dimension of quality of life. Political, economic, social, cultural, environmental, behavioural and  biological factors can all favour or harm health. Health promotion aims to make these conditions favourable, through advocacy for health. Enable – health promotion focuses on achieving equity in health. Health promotion action aims to reduce differences in current health status and to ensure the availability of equal opportunities and resources to enable all people to achieve their full health potential. This includes a secure foundation in a supportive environment, access to information, life skills and opportunities to make healthy choices. People cannot achieve their fullest health potential unless they are able to control those things that determine their health. This must apply equally to women and men.

Mediate – the prerequisites and prospects for health cannot be ensured by the health sector alone. Health promotion demands coordinated action by all concerned, including governments, health and other social and economic sectors, non-government and voluntary organisations, local authorities, industry and the media.