The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion is the name of an international agreement signed at the First International Conference on Health Promotion, organized by the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...

(WHO) and held in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

, in November 1986.World Health Organization
The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion.
Adopted on 21 November 1986. It launched a series of actions among international organizations, national governments and local communities to achieve the goal of " Health For All" by the year 2000 and beyond through better

health promotion Health promotion is, as stated in the 1986 World Health Organization (WHO) Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, the "process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health." Scope The WHO's 1986 Ottawa Charter for Hea ...

Context

The thirtieth WHO

World Health Assembly The World Health Assembly (WHA) is the forum through which the World Health Organization (WHO) is governed by its 194 member states. It is the world's highest health policy setting body and is composed of health ministers from member states. ...

, held in 1977, had highlighted the importance of promoting

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

so that all the international citizens had an "economically productive" level of health by the year 2000. Further, a localised European taskforce developed a strategy for

in the

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Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

an Region. In the context of this charter, the concept of 'health' is particular. It covers the extent to which a group or individual can fulfil their ambitions and needs, on the one hand, and evolve with or adapt to the environment, on the other. Health is thus seen as a resource for everyday life, not as the goal of life; it is a positive concept that emphasises social and individual resources as well as physical capabilities. Thus, health promotion is not just a health issue, but goes beyond healthy lifestyles to

well-being Well-being, or wellbeing, also known as wellness, prudential value or quality of life, refers to what is intrinsically valuable relative ''to'' someone. So the well-being of a person is what is ultimately good ''for'' this person, what is in t ...

Action areas of the Ottawa Charter

Prerequisites

The fundamental conditions and resources for health are: * peace, * shelter, * education, * food, * income, * a stable eco-system, * sustainable resources, * social justice, and equity.

Action areas

Five action areas for health promotion were identified in the charter: # Building healthy public policy # Creating supportive environments # Strengthening community action # Developing personal skills # Re-orienting

health care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health ...

services toward prevention of illness and promotion of health The basic strategies for health promotion were prioritized as: * Advocate: Health is a resource for social and developmental means, thus the dimensions that affect these factors must be changed to encourage health. * Enable:

Health equity Health equity arises from access to the social determinants of health, specifically from wealth, power and prestige. Individuals who have consistently been deprived of these three determinants are significantly disadvantaged from health inequitie ...

must be reached where individuals must become empowered to control the determinants that affect their health, such that they are able to reach the highest attainable quality of life. * Mediation: Health promotion cannot be achieved by the health sector alone; rather its success will depend on the collaboration of all sectors of government (social, economic, etc.) as well as independent organizations (media, industry, etc.).

Developments after Ottawa

Internationally: * WHO: Jakarta Declaration in 1997 * WHO: Health for all targets in 1997 * WHO: Health 21 in 1999 * WHO: Bangkok Charter in 2005 * WHO: 7th Global Conference on Health Promotion 2009 * WHO: 8th Global Conference on Health Promotion 2013 Within countries: * United Kingdom ** Our Healthier Nation ** National Plan Even 30 years later, this charter is still considered as a seminal document and template for health promotion.{{Cite journal , last=Thompson , first=S. R. , last2=Watson , first2=M. C. , last3=Tilford , first3=S. , date=2018-03-04 , title=The Ottawa Charter 30 years on: still an important standard for health promotion , url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14635240.2017.1415765 , journal=International Journal of Health Promotion and Education , volume=56 , issue=2 , pages=73–84 , doi=10.1080/14635240.2017.1415765 , issn=1463-5240

References

External links

Official text (WHO)
Health promotion World Health Organization