Principles for planning the teaching of health promotion in an MPH course

The Ottawa Charter on Health Promotion defined the term Health Promotion as "the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health". It also specifies that "to reach a state of complete physical mental and social well-being, an individual or group must be able to identify and to realize aspirations, to satisfy needs, and to change or cope with the environment". Three main strategies for promoting health were stated: advocacy, enabling, and mediating. A great emphasis was put on policy. The Jakarta Declaration at the 4th International Conference on Health Promotion in 1997 reconfirmed the Ottawa Charter and added to it that "Health Promotion is carried out by and with people, not on or to people". The learning objectives of health promotion should refer to the values and strategies of 'Health 21', to the strategies and areas of action in health promotion as specified in the Ottawa Charter, and it should be relevant to the needs of the society that the participants are going to serve. The main goal of a training program in health promotion should be to develop competence in health promotion. "Competence" refers to the combination of three domains: attitudes, knowledge, and skills. Each school of public health or planners of an MPH course should decide upon the right mix of these three domains, according to their institute's mission and goals.