RHP&EO is the electronic journal of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education

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Editorial: Public health in Latvia with particular reference to health promotion

Maurice B. Mittelmark

Internet Publication: 20 August, 1998

All over Eastern and Central Europe, countries that experienced radical political and economic changes during the period since 1989 have been very concerned with designing new health systems for new times. Fortunately, WHO (Europe) had fostered relationships with most of these countries since long before 1989, and a high level of trust has been the basis for WHO's involvement in several countries' health reform activities. Most importantly, WHO's Regional Office for Europe has a very strong health promotion profile, and health care reform thus has excellent potential to be influenced by health promotion ideas. For example, WHO has assisted several countries by undertaking reviews of their current public health programmes and providing recommendations to health ministries for ways to improve health promotion action. As the most recent example of this, Latvia's State Minister of Health, Dr. Viktors Jaksons, invited WHO/EURO to review the health promotion function in Latvia and make recommendations for achievable improvements. Their report, published in part here, makes for most interesting reading, demonstrating a key role for WHO in introducing health promotion concepts at the highest levels of national policy-making.

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