National opportunities for health promotion: the Canadian experience

Health promotion is a fundamental strategy to address the majorissues which confront health systems in developed and developingcountries alike. Chief amongst these issues are unhealthy environments,health inequities and non-communicable diseases. The infrastructuresfor health promotion include mechan isms for development andimplementation of health policy; policies and programs supportiveof community involvement in health promotion programs; reorientationof the health care system towards prevention; and research.Consensus building among key stakeholders from the public andprivate sectors is at the core of the policy development process.A New Perspective for the Health of Canadians (1974) and theWHO Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (1987) have guided healthpromotion policy and program development at both the nationaland provincial levels, in Canada, a number of initiatives haveplaced into pra ctice the policy frameworks, among them: HealthyCommunities, the Canadian Heart Health initiative, integrationofpreven lion into clinical practice, and structures to supportresearch in health promotion.     

Building and mobilizing partnerships for health: a national strategy

Increasingly, health professionals are being called upon tobe knowledgeable about and to integrate prevention and healthpromotion into their day-to-day practice. Working in partnershipwith a variety of disciplines and sectors is also an emergingreality in the health field. This paper describes a nationalcollaborative strategy development process ‘EnhancingPreventive Practices of Health Professionals’ that involvedHealth and Welfare Canada and eight national health professionalassociations. The lessons learned from the process and the documentsproduced by the initiative are highlighted. Reference is madeto related literature from the fields of organizational andcommunity development.