“Health promotion is the science and art of helping people change their lifestyle to move toward a state of optimal health"1
The central way health promotion occurs is through developing public policy that addresses the fundamentals of health, such as income, housing, food security, employment, and quality working conditions. More recently, health promotion is seeking to incorporate health into all public policies.
The World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that health promotion strategies are not limited to a specific health problem, nor to a specific set of behaviours. The principles, strategies, and health promotions of the organization are directed towards a variety of population groups, and meant to address multiple risk factors and diseases in various settings. Efforts are put into education, community development, policy, legislation and regulation, and are applicable for prevention of transmissible diseases, injury and violence, and mental concerns, as well as for the prevention of non-transmissible diseases.
The Public Health Agency of Canada promotes health in several areas on their website, which include:
- Child Health
- Environmental Public Health and Climate change
- Family Violence Prevention
- Healthy Pregnancy and Infancy
- Healthy Living
- Injury Prevention
- Mental Health
- Obesity
- Physical Activity
- Population Health
- Rural Health
- Seniors Health
Resources are available for everyone to learn about healthy options, health concerns, diseases and conditions, and to have access to research and statistics.
References:
1. Health Promotion. (n.d.). Retrieved January 25, 2014 from Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_promotion
2. World Health Organization. (n.d.) Health Promotion. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/healthpromotion/en/index.html
3. Public Health Agency of Canada. (n.d.). Health Promotion. Retrieved from http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/index-eng.php
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