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Strengths And Weaknesses Of Health Promotion

Decent Essays

Health Promotion is a fundamental practise in ensuring optimum population health. In this essay I will be discussing the ‘settings’ based approach (SBA) of Health Promotion (HP) as a process for achieving sustainable improvements in health outcomes. I will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the approach in relation to key movements which demonstrate the method in action. The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, 1986, defined Health Promotion as being ‘the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health’. There are three key approaches to HP. The first one looks at population subgroups. It is well documented that not all cultures view health as a prime goal. For example, an addict will chose to facilitate his habit over basic sanitary and physical necessities. The ‘population subgroup’ approach looks to focus on targeted solutions for smaller groups …show more content…

WHO’s definition of a ‘setting’ in the context of Health Promotion is ‘the place or social context in which people engage in daily activities in which environmental, organisational and personal factors interact to affect health and wellbeing’ (WHO, 1998). The core concept of the approach is dictated in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, 1986. It involves initiating and maintaining a ‘supportive environment for health’ (WHO, 1986) and supports broader efforts of health promotion interventions, incorporating multiple determinants of health at a time. The SBA to HP values public participation, supportive social networks, empowerment, community, and health awareness. This approach aims to achieve positive health outcomes by embedding a health promoting concept into the organisational structure of a central setting such as a school, workplace or prison. It acknowledges a key connection between environment and wellbeing and works to achieve a more sustainable and long-term

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