Definitions And Examples Of Health Promotion Health Protection And

Leo Migdal

-Dec 5, 2025, 5:11 PM

definitions and examples of health promotion health protection and

Address correspondence to: Rosemary M. Caron, PhD, MGH Institute of Health Professions, School of Healthcare Leadership, Charlestown Navy Yard, 36 1st Avenue, Boston, MA 02129. rcaron@mghihp.edu This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Public health aims to promote health, protect population health, and prevent disease and injury through the core functions of assessment, policy development, and assurance.1 These public health actions, at various governmental and community levels,... Specifically, health promotion is a collective strategy that creates the right social and physical conditions individually, institutionally, and societally to improve the determinants of health and empower individuals to improve their health by increasing...

The effectiveness of these constructs is evidenced by the historical initiatives (e.g., Alma Ata Declaration), health equity initiatives (e.g., Healthy People 2030), and the greatest public health achievements of the twentieth century, which have... The breadth of health promotion activities includes systemic regulatory, political, educational, and organizational actions that result in conditions conducive to individuals, groups, and communities.10 The pandemic has had lasting, albeit not uniform, effects on... “Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health.” Health Promotion Glossary, 1998 The first International Conference on Health Promotion was held in Ottawa in 1986, and was primarily a response to growing expectations for a new public health movement around the world. It launched a series of actions among international organizations, national governments and local communities to achieve the goal of "Health For All" by the year 2000 and beyond. The basic strategies for health promotion identified in the Ottawa Charter were: advocate (to boost the factors which encourage health), enable (allowing all people to achieve health equity) and mediate (through collaboration across all...

Since then, the WHO Global Health Promotion Conferences have established and developed the global principles and action areas for health promotion. Most recently, the 9th global conference (Shanghai 2016), titled ‘Promoting health in the Sustainable Development Goals: Health for all and all for health’, highlighted the critical links between promoting health and the 2030 Agenda... Whilst calling for bold political interventions to accelerate country action on the SDGs, the Shanghai Declaration provides a framework through which governments can utilize the transformational potential of health promotion. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provides a bold and ambitious agenda for the future. WHO is committed to helping the world meet the SDGs by championing health across all the goals. WHO’s core mission is to promote health, alongside keeping the world safe and serving the vulnerable.

Beyond fighting disease, we will work to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, leaving no-one behind. Our target is 1 billion more people enjoying better health and well-being by 2023. \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \) \( \newcommand{\dsum}{\displaystyle\sum\limits} \) \( \newcommand{\dint}{\displaystyle\int\limits} \)

\( \newcommand{\dlim}{\displaystyle\lim\limits} \) Multiple public and private organizations function to improve the health and well-being of the general public. Some of these bodies function independently, others collaboratively, but all are dedicated to building and maintaining an environment that supports a healthy population. These groups may be more broadly generalized into two categories that guide various regulatory and care-oriented organizations: health promotion and health protection. While the two may sound similar, each has its own unique approach to managing the health of the larger population. Health promotion addresses large scale public health concerns, beginning with the well-being of each individual.

Health promotion activities are those which seek to modify the behavior of individuals by improving the choices that affect society at large. The goal is to decrease the risk of illness or disease and improve overall health. Many of the initiatives that fall under the umbrella of health promotion are educational in nature. These educational initiatives address the individual’s knowledge of specific risk topics such as: nutrition, physical fitness, sexual practices, drugs and alcohol, tobacco, mental health, family planning, and multiple forms of abuse. In the many instances within the United States, health promotion initiatives can become a part of a larger public policy. A popular example of successful health promotion is the warning label that now exists on cigarettes.

Historically, cigarettes were considered socially acceptable, and commonly sold without any warning about the risk to the health of the user. However, health experts noted the increased incidence of disease and began to educate the public on the risks of smoking and tobacco use. Eventually, these health promotion activities led to a change in public policy, which now requires the manufactures to add a warning label directly to the package. Health promotion experts hope that by educating people about the danger of certain elective behaviors, they will gradually curb their behavior and maker healthier choices. Health promotion and disease prevention programs focus on keeping people healthy. Health promotion programs aim to engage and empower individuals and communities to choose healthy behaviors, and make changes that reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases and other morbidities.

Disease prevention differs from health promotion because it focuses on specific efforts aimed at reducing the development and severity of chronic diseases and other morbidities. Wellness is related to health promotion and disease prevention. Wellness is described as the attitudes and active decisions made by an individual that contribute to positive health behaviors and outcomes. Health promotion and disease prevention programs often address social determinants of health, which influence modifiable risk behaviors. Social determinants of health are the economic, social, cultural, and political conditions in which people are born, grow, and live that affect health status. Modifiable risk behaviors include, for example, tobacco use, poor eating habits, and lack of physical activity, which contribute to the development of chronic disease.

Typical strategies for health promotion, disease prevention, and wellness programs include:

Definitions And Examples Of Health Promotion Health Protection And

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\( \newcommand{\dlim}{\displaystyle\lim\limits} \) Multiple Public And Private Organizations Function To