Memorandum health 2000: intersectoral planning for health in The Netherlands

Publishing a major policy document on public health every decade has become a worthy tradition in the Netherlands. In accordance with this tradition, the Memorandum health 2000 was published last year. This article describes and analyses the health policy, with the emphasis on health education, prevention and facet policy. Facet policy refers to strategies applying to all areas that are outside the scope of public health policy but have a health component or dimension. The model presented in the policy document incorporates all relevant factors in health care: physical environment, social environment, lifestyle, state of health, health care system and current resources. The factors affecting health care have been described before, but the Memorandum health 2000 goes further than this. The document presents these factors in a single integrated model, which highlights the relative importance of each individual factor. This is an unprecedented achievement in Dutch government policy.