The evolution of health promotion

This paper describes the evolution of health promotion from its nascent roots which focused upon lifestyle to its global concepts of managing the future. A lifestyle orientation was the focus of approximately the first decade of health promotion efforts which followed the release of the 1974 document, "A New Perspective on the Health of Canadians". This was also a period of national health goal setting in Europe and in the United States. In 1984, the World Health Organization defined health promotion as the process of enabling individuals to take control over and to maintain their health. The focus of health promotion efforts thus changed from an emphasis on the individual to the more structural factors in society which support the types of choices that people ultimately make. Achieving Health for All: A Framework for Health Promotion, released in November 1986, further developed the concept of health promotion, suggesting three strategies for increasing health promotion: fostering public participation, strengthening community health services and healthy public policy. The health promotion movement has had other spin-offs such as the "Healthy Cities Movement" which was begun by another Canadian, Trevor Hancock. The newest evolution of the health promotion movement is a concern for a Healthy Future.