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Core 1: Health Priorities in Australia
What actions are needed to address Australia's health priorities?
Health promotion based on the five action areas of the Ottawa Charter
Key Messages
- Health Promotion is a broad practice, which includes actions directed at strengthening skills and capabilities of individuals and changing social, environmental and economic conditions.
- Effective health promotion requires a multi-faceted approach and is not just the responsibility of the health sector.
- The public health approach acknowledges that effective health promotion requires intersectoral involvement.
- The Ottawa Charter is at the core of good health promotion. It promotes social justice, increases the likelihood of positive health outcomes and has proven to be very successful.
- The five action areas of the Ottawa Charter: build healthy public policy, create supportive environments for health, strengthen community action for health, develop personal skills, and re-orient health services; have provided the framework for many successful health promotion initiatives.
Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. To reach a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, an individual or group must be able to identify and to realise aspirations, to satisfy needs, and to change or cope with the environment. Health is a positive concept emphasising social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities. Therefore, health promotion is not just the responsibility of the health sector, but goes beyond healthy lifestyles to well-being.
Source: World Health Organisation, 2010
(http://www.who.int/healthpromotion/conferences/previous/ottawa/en/index.html 
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The first International Conference on Health Promotion was held in 1986, where the World Health Organisation (WHO) recognised the importance of health promotion and developed the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion to achieve ‘Health for All by the year 2000 and beyond'. This conference was primarily a response to growing expectations for a new public health movement around the world and has remained the core of good health promotion.
The Ottawa Charter identifies three basic strategies for health promotion. These are advocacy for health to create the essential conditions for health; enabling all people toachieve their full health potential; and mediating between the different interests in society inthe pursuit of health.
These strategies are supported by five priority action areas
- build healthy public policy
- create supportive environments for health
- strengthen community action for health
- develop personal skills, and
- re-orient health services.
To explore health promotion based on the five action areas of the Ottawa Charter, click on the appropriate heading below.
Levels of responsibility for health promotion
Health promotion achieves more positive results if all levels participate and cooperate in the program or setting. Health promotion is not just the responsibility of the health sector.
The benefits of partnerships in health promotion, eg government sector, non-government agencies and the local community
Effective health promotion requires multiple approaches involving many individuals and organisations.
How health promotion based on the Ottawa Charter promotes the social justice
The principles of social justice - equity, diversity and supportive environments - are an essential part of effective health promotion. The Ottawa Charter promotes social justice as it is designed to provide access to health opportunities for all members of a community.
The Ottawa Charter in action
The action areas of the Ottawa Charter are central to many health promotion initiatives and programs in Australia. The action areas also provide a useful framework for analysing each of the six identified priority issues for Australia's health.
As part of the syllabus requirements, you are required to critically analyse the importance of the five action areas of the Ottawa Charter through a study of TWO health promotion initiatives related to Australia's health priorities.
Reflect on how the effectiveness of health promotion relates to other focus questions for Core 1, e.g.
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