science

Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion

Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion rather than just read about it. In short: The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion is the name of an international agreement signed at the First International Conference on Health Promotion, organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and held in Ottawa, Canada, in November 1986. It launched a series of actions among international organizations, national governments and local communities to achieve the goal of "Health For All" by the year 2000 and beyon…

Key takeaways

Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion is the name of an international agreement signed at the First International Conference on Health Promotion, organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and held in Ottawa, Canada, in November 1986. It launched a series of actions among international organizations, national governments and local communities to achieve the goal of "Health For All" by the year 2000 and beyond through better health promotion.

Context The thirtieth WHO World Health Assembly, held in 1977, had highlighted the importance of promoting health so that all the international citizens had an "economically productive" level of health by the year 2000. Further, a localised European taskforce developed a strategy for health promotion in the WHO European Region. In the context of this charter, the concept of 'health' is particular. It covers the extent to which a group or individual can fulfil their ambitions and needs, on the one hand, and evolve with or adapt to the environment, on the other. Health is thus seen as a resource for everyday life, not as the goal of life; it is a positive concept that emphasises social and individual resources as well as physical capabilities. Thus, health promotion is not just a health issue, but goes beyond healthy lifestyles to well-being.

Action areas of the Ottawa Charter

Prerequisites The fundamental conditions and resources for health are:

peace, shelter, education, food, income, a stable eco-system, sustainable resources, social justice, and equity.

Action areas Five action areas for health promotion were identified in the charter:

Building healthy public policy Creating supportive environments Strengthening community action Developing personal skills Re-orienting health care services toward prevention of illness and promotion of health The basic strategies for health promotion were prioritized as:

Advocate: Health is a resource for social and developmental means, thus the dimensions that affect these factors must be changed to encourage health. Enable: Health equity must be reached where individuals must become empowered to control the determinants that affect their health, such that they are able to reach the highest attainable quality of life. Mediation: Health promotion cannot be achieved by the health sector alone; rather its success will depend on the collaboration of all sectors of government (social, economic, etc.) as well as independent organizations (media, industry, etc.).

Developments after Ottawa Internationally:

WHO: Jakarta Declaration in 1997 WHO: Health for all targets in 1997 WHO: Health 21 in 1999 WHO: Bangkok Charter in 2005 WHO: 7th Global Conference on Health Promotion 2009 WHO: 8th Global Conference on Health Promotion 2013 Within countries:

United Kingdom Our Healthier Nation National Plan Even 30 years later, this charter is still considered as a seminal document and template for health promotion.

See also Health promotion Health For All Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, United Kingdom Ministry of Health Promotion and Sport (Ontario), Canada Health policy Health departments Healthy city Alliance for Healthy Cities World Health Organization

References

Further reading Ewles L, Simnett I (2005). Promoting Health - a practical guide. Balliere Tindall: Edinburgh. WHO (1999). Health 21 - Health for all in the 21st Century. WHO Europe: Copenhagen. WHO (1999). Reducing health inequalities - proposals for health promotion and actions. WHO Europe: Copenhagen.

External links Official text (WHO)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion

In research: Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Health promotion, World Health Organization, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion in simple terms?

Why does Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion.