[Health promotion in Africa: history and prospects]

Since the Ottawa Charter (1986), the majority of regions of the world has done considerable progress in health promotion (HP) and has got frameworks of reflection, methodologies and tools related to it. In Africa, HP was adopted by the Member States of the WHO regional office of Africa since 2001. However many efforts remain to be deployed at countries' level for its appropriation in the context of the triple burden of communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases and socio-behavioral over the region. Francophone Africa barely begins to take its first steps in the recognition and adoption of this approach. It favors however strategies such as information, education and communication (IEC), health education (HE), behavior change communication (BCC), social mobilization, social marketing, etc. Things are stressed and done under HP theme without for as much fit in its characteristics. What is the current situation in francophone Africa ? The particularities of HP evolution in this region and its practice by professionals with regard to the priority health issues of the region deserve reflection. This is the question to which it is proposed to answer in this article. We will review, among other things, HP history and why it matters, then briefly the various concepts and strategies used. We will finish by the potential development of HP in the region.