In 1986 just as I was finished my high school education and preparing to start my nursing journey, a group of people were meeting in Ottawa to develop what is now known as the Ottawa Charter. The simultaneous launching of a new direction for my life and the health of the international community is not lost on me. The writing of the Ottawa Charter laid the foundation for a positive definition of health, demonstrating core principles and values for public health action and outlined strategies and action items that were needed to move our health agenda forward. Potvin et al (2011), summarized the important role that the charter played in shaping the values and actions of our public health system, and emphasized the strengths of this charter.
The Ottawa Charter outlined the following principles to ensure health promotion is addressed: build healthy public policy, create supportive environment, strengthen community actions, develop personal skills, and reorient health services and moving into the future. Throughout the last 30 years these principles have been guiding the health agenda nationally and internationally. Australia and the UK use the Ottawa Charter as its foundation for health promotion as does many other countries in the world. However, the question remains, have we achieved the goals for Canadians that the charter intended? Hancock (2011), addresses this very question, he speaks of the aspect of public health policy and the challenges that exist within Canada. Health direction is governed provincially in Canada and there are gaps in policy that are evident across the provinces that highlight inequity within our own county. Hancock (2011) also highlights the challenges of literacy rates in Canada and how we are hovering 60% with no action plan to address this issue. The last challenge that Hancock (2011) highlighted is the one that resonated with me which is the reflection about the current health care system. Hancock speaks of the need for a readjustment to the entire health care system, and a shift from an illness focused model to one invested in prevention.
At this point in my career, Hancock ( 2011) has summed up my feelings on health promotion. I have worked in a primarily illness model system for over 30 years, seeing the impact of poverty, poor literacy, inequity, and a lack of preventative care. While policies and goals exist nationally and provincially it has not taken root for everyone as the charter had promised. 30 years later my province is launching a revision to its health delivery system, trying to shift to address the same issues the Ottawa Charter did all those years ago. https://healthaccordnl.ca/ is the latest blueprint that this province is trying to use to rearrange fiscal resources to manage the health of its people. This is already meeting resistance in the province.
The Ottawa Charter had set a goal for ‘Health for All’ by the year 2000, ( World Health Organization 1986) . Seeing that we are 22 years past that initial goal, it is clear now that while there has been much work done to keep the health agenda in the forefront, there is still more to be done both on a national, international, and provincial level. My question for us all, is are we ready to take the next steps as health professionals, government leaders and citizens to see the goals of the Ottawa Charter achieved in our lifetime?
Reference
Evans, L., Hall, M., Jones, C. M., & Neiman, A. (2007). Did the Ottawa Charter play a role in the push to assess the effectiveness of health promotion? Global Health Promotion, 14(Supplement 2), 28–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/10253823070140020901x
https://healthaccordnl.ca/ retrieved May 14, 2022.
Hancock, T. (2011). Health promotion in Canada: 25 years of unfulfilled promise. Health Promotion International, 26(suppl_2), ii263-ii267. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/dar061
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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