Ottawa Charter Action Area

• to operationalize the concept of health promotion

Ottawa Charter Action Area

1. Build Healthy Public Policy

• Health promotion beyond health care
• Health on agenda of policy makers

Health promotion policy combines diverse but complementary approaches including:

a. Legislation
b. Fiscal measures
c. Taxation
d. Organizational charge
• Coordinated actions that leads to healthy income and social policies that foster great
equity
• Identify obstacles to the adaptation of healthy public policy in non-health sectors and
ways of removing them.

2. Create Supportive Environments

• The extricable links between people and their environment constitutes the basis for a
socio-ecological approach to health.
• The overall guiding principle for all is the need to encourage reciprocal maintenance- to
take care of each other, our communities and our national environment.
• Conservation of natural resources should be emphasized as a global responsibility.
• Health promotion generates living and working conditions that are safe stimulating
satisfying and enjoyable.
• Systematic assessment of health impact of rapidly changing environment is essential
must be followed by actions to ensure positive benefits to public health.
• The protection of the natural and built environment and conservation of natural
resources must be addressed in any health promotion strategy.

3. Strengthen Community Action

• Health promotion works through concrete and effective community action in setting
priorities, making decisions, planning strategies and implementing them to achieve
better health.
• Empowerment of communities is the heart of this process.
• Community development draws an existing human and material resources in the
community to enhance self-help and social support and to develop flexible system for
strengthening public participation in and direction of healthy ministers.
• Requires full and continuous access to information, learning opportunities for health as
well as finding support.
4. Develop Personal Skills
• Health promotion supports personal and social development through providing
information, education for health and enhancing life skills.
• Increase the options available to people to exercise more control over their own health
and over their own environment and to make choices conducive to health.
• Enabling people to learn throughout life, to prepare themselves for all of its stage and to
cope with chronic illness and injuries is essential.

5. Reorient Health Services

• The responsibility for health promotion in health services is shared among individual
community groups, health professional’s health services, institutions and government.
• The role of the health sector must move increasingly in health promotion direction,
beyond its responsibility for providing clinical and curative services.
• Health services need to embrace and expanded mandate which is sensitive and respects
cultural needs.
• Requires stronger attention to health research as well as changes in professional
education and training.

WHO Principles of Health Promotion

1. Health Promotion involves the population as a whole in the context of their everyday
life, rather than focusing on people risk from specific disease.
2. Health Promotion is directed towards action on determinants or cause of health. This
requires a close cooperation between sectors beyond health care reflecting the diversity
of conditions which influence health.
3. Health Promotion combines diverse but complementary approaches, including
communication, education, legislation, fiscal development and spontaneous local
activities against health hazards.
4. Health Promotion aims particularly at effective and concrete public participation. This
requires the further development of problem-defining and decision-making life skills,
both individually and collectively and promotion of effective participation mechanism.
5. Health Promotion is primarily a societal and political venture and not a medical services
although health professionals have an important role in advocating and enabling health
promotion.