Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion 1986: Five Action Areas
In short: The Ottawa Charter defined health promotion as enabling people to increase control over their health, and set out five action areas from healthy public policy to reorienting health services.
The definition
Adopted at the first International Conference on Health Promotion in Ottawa in November 1986, the charter defined health promotion as 'the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health.'
Five action areas
1) Build healthy public policy. 2) Create supportive environments. 3) Strengthen community action. 4) Develop personal skills. 5) Reorient health services towards prevention. It also named three strategies: advocate, enable and mediate.
In practice
Tobacco taxes and graphic health warnings, smoke-free public places, school health programmes, menstrual-hygiene education and community-led total sanitation in Nepal are all examples of Ottawa-style health promotion.
Key takeaways
- Health promotion = enabling control over one's health.
- Five action areas and three strategies (advocate, enable, mediate).
- Policy and environment matter as much as individual behaviour.
Common questions
What is the difference between health education and health promotion?
Health education builds knowledge and skills; health promotion is broader and includes policy, environment and community action.
Which later charters followed?
Conferences in Adelaide, Sundsvall, Jakarta, Bangkok, Nairobi, Helsinki, Shanghai and Geneva built on Ottawa.
References
Educational content by PHC-Nepal. It does not replace advice from a qualified health professional.