6. Health promotion

• Health promotion is a form of primordial prevention
• It is a process which gives people the ability and knowledge to control and improve their health
• 3 key elements of health promotion according to WHO
  • Health literacy: giving people knowledge to make healthy choices
  • Good governance – policy makers of the country must prioritize health and assign funds to health
  • Healthy cities
• The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion is an international agreement organized by WHO
• Health impact assessment (HIA)
  • HIA is: “a combination of procedures, methods, and tools used to evaluate the potential health effects of a policy, programme or project.” (WHO)
  • Before health promotion the population should be assessed to determine which measure should be prioritised
  • This is used to make recommendations that will help decision-makers make the best choices
  • These recommendations will maximise positive health impacts and minimise negative health impacts of the choices