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

Editorial - the Verona Initiative

Maurice B. Mittelmark
Professor of Health Promotion
Department of Psychosocial Sciences and
Research Centre for Health Promotion
School of Psychology
University of Bergen
Christies gate 13
5015 Bergen
Norway

Mittelmark MB. Editorial - the Verona Initiative. Review of Health Promotion and Education Online, 1998. URL: ijhp-articles/e-proceedings/verona/editorial.htm

The purpose of this editorial is to invite you to take part in an exciting new initiative, intended to dramatically improve opportunities for your participation in a debate about health promotion directions as we move into the next century.

Many health promotion workers are frustrated that our field, which champions participation, has found difficult to be as inclusive as we would like to be. At the worst, it may seem as though an inner circle of some kind has control of the agenda. Who are the members of this inner circle? Simply, they are the relatively few people who are lucky enough to have the resources to attend international health promotion meetings and conferences. Until now, if you cannot participate on-site, there is just about no way to stick your oar in and help steer.

All that is about to change we hope. And the Journal wants to be in the forefront, using the power of open communications on the WWW to bring the conferences out to YOU, and to provide a forum for your critical input.

The test case is called the Verona Initiative. It is a public-private partnership, including the Internet Journal of Health Promotion, the World Health Organization (EURO), the business community, and regional, provincial, city governments and foundations in Italy.

The partnership has been formed to seek ways to create new arenas for action to improve health and well-being in Europe. Even though the present initiative is centred in Europe, people world wide are invited to participate. In this way, similar initiatives might blossom in other regions of the world.

Verona, Italy has been chosen as the physical centre for this partnership, and three meetings will be held in Verona to form the backbone of the initiative:

"European macro-trends and implications for investing for health" - this will be held late in 1998
"The health impact of European macro-trends on population groups: youth and elderly" - 1999
"Positioning health promotion for the 21^st century: the investment for health strategy" - 2000.

The meetings, at which attendance will be small due to practical limitations, will be linked and flow in a progressive manner. Discussions will incorporate ideas offered by people who cannot attend the meetings in Verona (people like me!).

Now to get to the heart of the matter: The Journal has today published a series of background papers, intended to begin the debate before the first meeting in Verona. Using the Discussion Forum provided by the Journal, you are invited to comment on these papers, and to comment on the comments. All comments will be read by the Verona meeting participants, and in this way, the debate will be as inclusive as you desire it to be.

Our intention is to maintain this process throughout the three years of the Verona Initiative. In this way, you can be part of a virtual community of health promoters, working together purposively and seriously to improve the effectiveness of our work.

Please join!

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