[The International Union for Health Promotion and Education's Global Programme on Health Promotion Effectiveness]

The Global Programme on Health Promotion Effectiveness (GPHPE) is a multi-partner initiative, coordinated by the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) in collaboration with the World Health Organization, and supported by a number of partners from across the world. The GPHPE aims to raise standards of health promoting policy-making and practice worldwide by: reviewing evidence of effectiveness in terms of health, social, economic and political impact; translating evidence to policy makers, teachers, practitioners, researchers; stimulating debate on the nature of evidence of effectiveness. The principal challenge for the GPHPE is to develop a sustainable approach with adaptations suitable to different regional needs, whilst maintaining the high quality for which the European work that triggered the programme is recognised. Although varied, the regional activities are all clearly designed to contribute to the global body of knowledge that the GPHPE aims to build. The article presents the origins of the GPHPE, its operational structure and zooms in on some of the specific activities of the European Region.