If people are unaware of how their lifestyle choices negatively affect their health, they have little reason to go through the trouble of changing the habits they enjoy. By successfully manipulating health habits, individuals will live longer and healthier lives, enlightening their health holistically. Effective health promotion is essential to enable people to access the knowledge needed to exercise control over the determinants of health. To produce the most effective form of health promotion, a multi-faceted, multi-sectoral approach is needed, incorporating ideas and strategies from a number of different sources aiming at a single goal. This article will initially discuss the critical period of health promotion as it was catalyzed through the construction of the Ottawa Charter and how the Ottawa Charter influenced the expansion of health promotion through future research and conferences such as the Bangkok Charter. Additionally, some of the potential concerns that health promotion will face in the near future as the healthcare landscape changes due to current global issues will also be discussed. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Perhaps the most critical piece of research influencing the importance of health promotion is the Ottawa Charter. The Ottawa Charter was synthesized in 1986 when a group of researchers, policymakers and public health professionals came together to seek ways to provide health to all humans by the end of the century. For the first time, health was considered holistically, considering an individual's physical, mental and social well-being rather than simply the presence, or absence, of disease. Potvin & Jones (2011) exemplify the impact of the Ottawa Charter and how its design provided a framework for public health practitioners and decision makers to support health. Crucially, the Ottawa Charter has enabled health promotion to permeate and transform public health systems around the world. Potvin & Jones have identified three key trends in health promotion since its inception. Firstly, there is evidence that health promotion is now recognized in many fields as a fundamental function for public health. For example, in the United Kingdom and Canada, health promotion is explicitly treated as equal to traditional functions such as prevention, protection and surveillance. Additionally, the state of Ontario, Canada, has established a Ministry of Health Promotion that is independent of the Ministry of Health, and in other jurisdictions, such as Switzerland, Thailand, and Austria, health promotion mandates have been imposed by legislation. Secondly, there is a general tendency for states to focus on plans that propose the reduction of health inequality. This includes an emphasis on social factors, such as housing, access to health facilities and a sense of community, as an alternative to targeting specific diseases. Finally, it is argued that states have adopted health promotion in all policies as a governance principle. This is demonstrated by Krech & Buckett (2010) where it is recognized that the government has placed an increasing emphasis on health and well-being in developing new policies across all areas of governance. Potvin & Jones strongly support the implications of the Ottawa Charter as a fundamental element of contemporary health promotion. Although the Charter ofOttawa has significantly advanced the position of health promotion, there are still a number of emerging health issues coming to the fore (McMichael & Butler, 2006). The global dominance of economic policies that prioritize liberalized trade and the amplification of rapid materials production has come at the expense of social, environmental, and personal well-being. Social relationships and free time have declined due to the growing importance of materialism and consumerism, especially among those of the middle class. Furthermore, overpopulation poses a major threat as we collectively exceed our planet's capacity to supply, replenish and absorb. This has resulted in global problems such as the decline of accessible oil, a dangerous alteration of the global climate due to the excessive release of fossil fuels and greenhouse gases, land degradation, and the depletion of fisheries and freshwater storage. Ecological footprint analysis shows that 1.6 Earths should be needed to support the current population at current consumption levels (White, 2016). McMichael and Butler propose that a transformation of institutional social norms and public policy priorities is needed. Current risks to population health are large-scale and can affect entire systems and processes in contrast to risks perhaps previously localized to personal health and small-scale environments. In a progressively consumerist society, there are few economic incentives for people to take responsibility for the health of the population. Health promotion must continue to address the immediate health problems faced by individuals and communities, however, addressing these more systemic health issues requires multifaceted, multisectoral policy education and collaboration at the international level. In addition to the issues addressed by health promotion in the previous paragraph, the inevitable increase in globalization also brings new issues to the fore. Global health promotion refers to the process of enabling individuals to take control of their own health in a global context. Global health governance is a relatively new term that encompasses contemporary issues in health promotion, particularly the progression of globalization. Since the 20th century, calls for intersectoral action on global issues such as climate change and epidemics have increased (Lee & Kamradt-Scott, 2014). Lee (2006) examines examples of global health promotion, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of this modern strategy. The Healthy Cities initiative aims to develop physically and socially sustainable environments within urban landscapes that offer maximum opportunities for holistic well-being. The number of cities taking part in the program has increased steadily since its inception, to the point where over 3,000 cities worldwide have been involved. The difficulty with this proposal, however, is that all cities are different and require different resources and actions to achieve the overall goal. Jackson et al. (2006) set out to examine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of health promotion strategies based on the Ottawa Charter by examining eight reviews written over the previous six years. From this, the authors concluded with a series of inferences essential to successful health promotion. Note that, as discussed above, the implementation of public health policies is critical to creating effective health promotion interventions. It is necessary to create environments conducive to healthy living on a structural, social and social level.
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