Health Promotion: An Innovative and Effective Approach

Washington, DC, December 5, 2002 (PAHO) -- The holistic concept of health -- not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, but a state of general well-being -- implies using health promotion as a vehicle to achieve an awareness of health that goes beyond concern for a cure and includes prevention, information, and know-how on how to achieve a healthy life.

PAHO has been carrying out activities to promote a broad concept of health as a basis for human development and an acceptable quality of life. To this end, it has urged Member States to work in the five action areas or strategies for health promotion: building healthy public policies; creating supportive environments; strengthening community action; developing personal skills; and reorienting health services.

Increasingly the countries of the Region recognize the importance of health promotion as a powerful public health strategy, and they have incorporated many of these fields of action into their national health plans and programs, the publication "Health Promotion in the Americas. Annual Report to the Director, 2001," goes on to note.

A milestone in the process to achieve a healthier continent was the Fifth World Conference for Health Promotion, "Health Promotion: Bridging the Equity Gap," held in June 2000 in Mexico. There, delegations from most of the countries of the Region signed the "Ministerial Declaration of Mexico for Health Promotion: A Platform for Action," known as the "Mexico Declaration," by which the PAHO Member States committed to strengthening their planning for health promotion activities, positioning it higher on the political agenda and as a priority in local, regional, national, and international programs.

The public policies applied to the combined sectors influence the determining health factors, and also are important vehicles for reducing social and economic inequalities such as assuring equitable access to goods and services, including health care.

The Regional Initiative for Health Public Policies is based on a multisectoral approach to assuring the sustainability of services; increased protection for the population as well as risk reduction; improved attention to the indigenous population; extension of coverage in every locality, and improvement in the quality of life.

In 2000, PAHO's technical cooperation made it possible for countries to create an environment that takes into account physical, social, spiritual, economic, and political dimensions.

"Health Promoting Schools", one of the initiatives put in place, provides the means to prepare future citizens to care for their health and that of their loves ones, and to treat their environment with respect. The sectors of health and education are joined in these schools to promote the adoption of healthy habits, self esteem, and maintenance of a healthy environment.

PAHO's technical cooperation in the empowering of communities has involved both individuals and managers, so that communities take greater responsibility for their own health and transform it into actions to improve existing conditions and to make healthy choices and adopt healthy lifestyles. This includes attention to the physical and psychosocial health of the elderly living in nursing homes, mental health, rights of the indigenous population, and domestic violence.

Interinstitutional involvement in the protection and promotion of infant health reached a culminating point in Ecuador in 2000, with the adoption of the "Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI)" strategy by the majority of the public institutions. This strategy gives attention to serious malnutrition, guidance on breast-feeding and other areas of nutrition, as well as the administration of vitamin A and iron supplements at the primary care level.

Fundamental for PAHO has been the development of personal skills during the life cycle. The development of life skills in the schools, the main element of this strategy, includes the formation of teachers, the participation of parents, and the implementation of the Health Promoting Schools initiative.

With respect to the reorientation of health services, PAHO has contributed to the search for and definition of new care models in Chile, Costa Rica, and Jamaica through integrated health care policies aimed at strengthening primary health care, expanding the problem-solving ability of the health services, and putting emphasis on health promotion and protection activities with the involvement of civil society.

PAHO, which acts as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization, was officially established in 1902, and is the oldest health agency in the world. It works with the countries of the Americas to strengthen health and raise standards of living.

For more information, please contact: Daniel Epstein, Office of Public Information, (202) 974-3459, e-mail: epsteind@paho.org.