The Ottawa Charter is a tool for health promotion which aims to improve health and reduce health related inequalities by advocating, enabling and mediating to promote equity in health (World Health Organization, 1986). The goal of improving health was aimed to be done through five action areas, including building public policy, creating supportive environments, strengthening community action, developing personal skills, and reorienting health services (WHO, 1986). While we know that this document has been vital in health promotion over the past several decades, the question is, is this document still relevant? When looking at the strategies that the Charter focuses on, it is evident that these are still very much relevant when it comes to improving health. After all of these years, it is still important that we continue to build healthy public policy, create supportive environments, strengthen community actions, reorient health services to best service health needs and develop and strengthen our own personal skills to improve health (WHO, 1986).
Part of the goal of the Charter was to shift the focus of health from an individualistic approach to one that looks to rectify health inequities and push for larger change (Thompson et al., 2017). While this had been occurring for a number of years, it is coming to light again that the focus is shifting back to the individualistic approach that we once sought to get away from (Thompson et al., 2017). Of course, we know that the Charter has played a vital role in health promotion over the years and it continues to be relevant in present years, however, how is it possible for there to be no alterations to this agenda with all of the health, science, research and technology changes that have taken place since 1986? We know that health promotion continues to be of vital importance, however alterations to the Charter to shift focus from individualized focus to one which will address health inequalities and determinants of health will have a greater impact on population health (Thompson et al., 2017). The next question is, what actions must be taken to shift this focus to provide the best outcomes? As per Potvin et al. (2011), implementation gaps are a major challenge impeding the advancement of health promotion agendas. These gaps are based in a lack of evidence in practice and public policy along with a lack of ability to implement programs in a number of countries (Potvin et al., 2011). In order to eliminate these gaps, scientific evidence and research must be implemented into practice and public policy in order for health promotion agendas to be advanced (Potvin et al., 2011).
At the end of the day, we are sure about a number of things. We are sure that health promotion remains of the utmost importance. We know that the strategies of the Charter remain relevant to improving health. We also know that with changes in science, research and technology, there are due to be changes in health. These changes require an alteration in the way we go about health promotion. We must shift focus from the individual to focus on health inequalities and population health. There is only so much an individual can do about their health where implementation of these strategies that have the capacity to make a large difference can drastically alter health outcomes of not just one person, but for a whole population.
References
Potvin, L., & Jones, C. M. (2011). Twenty-five years after the Ottawa Charter: the critical role of health promotion for public health. Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique, 102(4), 244–248. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03404041
Thompson, S. R., Watson, M. C., & Tilford, S. (2018). The Ottawa Charter 30 years on: still an important standard for health promotion. International Journal of Health Promotion and Education, 56(2), 73–84.
World Health Organization. (1986). Ottawa charter for health promotion, 1986 (No. WHO/EURO: 1986-4044-43803-61677). World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe. https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/phac-aspc/documents/services/health-promotion/population-health/ottawa-charter-health-promotion-international-conference-on-health-promotion/charter.pdf
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