IUHPE

The IUHPE Global Working Group on Waiora Planetary Health and Human Wellbeing originates from the 23rd IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion in Rotorua, in 2019, co-hosted by the Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand Runanga Whakapiki Ake I Te Hauora o Aotearoa, and the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE). Its theme was “WAIORA: Promoting Planetary Health and Sustainable Development for All.”

Waiora refers to an Indigenous perspective of our host country, Aotearoa New Zealand, on health and sustainable development. Waiora means water in its purest, life-giving form. Waiora is linked more specifically to the natural world and includes a spiritual element that connects human wellness with cosmic, terrestrial and water environments. It is a call to share knowledge from our diverse cultural systems for the wellbeing of the planet and humanity. Sustainable development for all is the means by which to ensure health justice globally and for future generations.

The aim of the conference was to provide an unparalleled opportunity to link and demonstrate the contribution of health promotion to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to acknowledge the way SDGs contribute to improvements in health and wellbeing, and to enhance the planetary health consciousness in health promotion.

Promoting planetary health constitutes a major current challenge for health promoters globally. There is increasing evidence that the current economic and social development paradigm of infinite growth and endless exploitation of limited natural resources, is unfair and unsustainable, leading to inequities within and among countries and across generations. Planetary health expands the scope of public health and health promotion and includes ecological and social determinants of health as goals for public health action.

The conference was part of a strategic process, a vehicle for the health promotion community to share how to address the major challenges of planetary health and sustainable development from a health promotion perspective.

Enhanced with an eco-social approach of planetary health and human wellbeing, health promotion can be transformative and more effective in contributing to a societal transformation, values shift and cultural evolution, if the world community is to avoid the converging environmental, economic, political, social, cultural and technological crises.

The IUHPE Global Working Group on Waiora Planetary Health and Human Wellbeing understands planetary health as defined by the Lancet Commission on Planetary Health (2015), and the two Legacy Statements of the 23rd IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion. It adopts these two frameworks because they are comprehensive and inclusive of science, ethics, spirituality, and indigenous knowledge. Meanwhile, the GWG acknowledges other planetary-related conceptual frameworks such as One Health and Ecohealth, and seeks to collaborate with groups who use those frameworks to address the health and wellbeing of the environment and humanity.

 

Mission

• To advance the aim of the conference and its two Legacy statements in order to be more central to IUHPE’s aims and activities;

• The group members to contribute to, and collaborate with IUHPE in the fields of planetary health and health promotion for mutually beneficial outcomes.

Aims

• To enhance a planetary consciousness in health promotion;

• To contribute an eco-social understanding of planetary health and human wellbeing into health promotion;

• To value indigenous ways of knowing about the world, including spirituality and reverence for nature; 

• To collaborate and share knowledge with other GWGs within IUHPE, and external groups working in the field of planetary health; 

• To contribute to the research, teaching, policy-making and practice of planetary health and human wellbeing in health promotion; 

• To contribute to the translation of planetary health and human wellbeing in health promotion into practical applications at all levels, from the global to the local.

 

Work Plan 2020-2023

This three-year work plan is based on the objectives of the GWG.

Objectives	Actions and timeline
1. To enhance a planetary consciousness in health promotion	1. Ensure that the 2019IUHPE Legacy Statements inform the thinking and action of IUHPE on an on-going basis, by contributing key concepts into strategic documents and the work programme of IUHPE 2. Explore with IUHPE how planetary consciousness can be enhanced within health promotion by including key messages into the work programme and other activities of IUHPE 3. Conduct a webinar on planetary health and health promotion as part of the webinar series for the 70th anniversary, by December 2021
2. To contribute an eco-social understanding of planetary health and human wellbeing into health promotion, making it transformative and more effective	1. Ensure that an eco-social approach understanding of planetary health and human wellbeing inform the thinking and action of IUHPE by contributing key concepts into strategic documents and the work programme of IUHPE 2. Explore with the Global Accreditation Organisation (GAO) of IUHPE how an eco-social approach of planetary health and human wellbeing can be incorporated into the IUHPE competencies and standards by June 2022 3. Draft a position paper on planetary health and human wellbeing for the GWG and IUHPE by June 2021
3. To value indigenous ways of knowing about the world, including spirituality and reverence for nature	1. Collaborate with and support IUHPE on valuing indigenous ways of knowing the world by collaborating with, and supporting the work of the International Network for Indigenous Health Promotion Professionals (INIHPP) 2. Ensure the two Legacy Statements of IUHPE2019 World Conference inform IUHPE thinking and action on indigenous knowledge by incorporating key concepts into strategic documents and the work programme of IUHPE 3. Collaborate with the International Network for Indigenous Health Promotion Professionals (INHPP) of IUHPE on at least one project of mutual outcomes by 2021
4. To collaborate and share knowledge with other GWGs within IUHPE, and external groups working in the field of planetary health	1. Ensure that planetary health and human wellbeing is an integral part of IUHPE policies, initiatives, and resources, such as its regional and world conferences 2. Collaborate with organisations and groups whose work are within or relevant to planetary health and human wellbeing, by working on joint projects 3. Ensure that planetary health is a stream at the IUHPE 2022 conference by offering a sub-plenary session
5. To contribute to the research, teaching, policy-making and practice of planetary health and human wellbeing in health promotion	1. Research and publish on planetary health and human wellbeing in health promotion 2. Establish a pool of educational resources on planetary health and human wellbeing for the teaching of health promotion across the world by June 2022 3. Develop a paper on planetary health for the WHO 2021 world congress on health promotion
6. To contribute to the translation of planetary health and human wellbeing in health promotion into practical applications at the global and local levels	1. Collaborate with IUHPE and other organisations and groups to translate the knowledge on planetary health and human wellbeing into practical applications, by working on joint projects 2. Collaborate with the People-Planet-Health project of IUHPE and three universities by Dec 2020 3. Explore growing local and national hubs of a movement of planetary health and human wellbeing by June 2022, in collaboration with other like organisations and groups such as Planetary Health Alliance

 

The aim is to be a unity-in-diversity representation of geography, language, gender, age, strategic areas of growth and a combination of complementary expertise in order to achieve the mission and objectives

To ensure effectiveness and achievement of aim and objectives, a more durable and appropriate structure will be in place in the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, the following members make up the GWG at this stage.

 

Chairs

Sione Tu’itahi, Executive Director, Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand, 

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Professor Claudia Meier Magistretti, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, FHNW, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Members

Professor Anthony Capon, Director, Institute of Sustainable Development, Monash University

Huti Watson, Consultant and Health Promoter, Ngati Porou Hauora Trust

Professor Marco Akerman, School of Public Health, University of São Paulo

Professor Margot Parkes, School of Health Sciences, University of Northern British Columbia

Dr Mojgan Sami, California State University Fullerton, California

Dr Richard Egan, Senior Lecturer, Otago University

Dr Sandro Demaio, Chief Executive Officer, VicHealth

Dr Trevor Hancock, Retired Professor and Senior Scholar, University of Victoria

Dr Viliami Puloka, Health Promotion Strategist, Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand, and Lecturer, Otago University
Dr Viliami Tutone, consultant nephrologist, Middlemore Hospital, Auckland District Health Board, Auckland
Professor Vivian Lin, Executive Associate Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong,

 

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Chairs’ and members’ responsibilities

Chairperson

• Convene meetings

• Liaise between IUHPE and IUHPE Waiora GWG

• Carry out decisions of IUHPE Waiora GWG, in collaboration with other members

• Spokesperson of IUHPE Waiora GWG within IUHPE and public

Members

• Endeavour to fulfil the mission and objectives of the GWG

• Contribute to the goals and activities of GWG

• Maintain the prestige and reputation of the GWG and IUHPE

• Implement decisions of GWG