Complementarity of IUHPE and WHO Conferences on Health Promotion

By Maurice B. Mittelmark, IUHPE President

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The International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) is delighted to be a co-sponsor of the World Health Organization’s 6^th Global Conference on Health Promotion “Policy and Partnership for Action: Addressing the Determinants of Health”, to be held at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand, from August 7-11, 2005 (http://www.who.int/noncommunicable_diseases/6gchp/en/). Besides co-sponsoring the conference, the IUHPE is an active participant in its planning, with several members of the IUHPE Board of Trustees assisting in developing the conference programme. 

The Bangkok conference will address four themes: (1) sustaining actions for integrated health promotion: (2) tackling current and future health challenges: (3) responding to the challenges and opportunities of globalization: (4) navigating the new context for health promotion. The IUHPE congratulates WHO on its continuation of the conference series that was initiated in Ottawa in 1986. Exploration of these four interlocking themes at the Bangkok conference will provide a key opportunity to identify actions to further the principles of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion -- the touchstone for health promoters everywhere.

I want to emphasise the high degree of complementarity of WHO and IUHPE health promotion conferences.  The WHO conferences, in which participation is invited, focus on policy development at the ministerial and international level.  Conversely, the IUHPE conferences are open to all health promotion and public health professionals, aiming to advance the scientific and professional development of the field. Considered together, both conferences ensure that forums for health promotion discussions are available at regular intervals for all key partners, including the governmental, non-governmental and business sectors, and policy-makers, practitioners and researchers at all levels from international to local.  The 19^th IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion and Health Education to be held in Vancouver, Canada, June 11- 15, 2007, provides the next opportunity for a global gathering of health promoters (http://www.iuhpeconference.org/).

The continued high level of commitment of the WHO to health promotion is encouraging to health promoters everywhere. No clearer evidence of that commitment can be found than the active participation of WHO leadership in planning the Bangkok conference. Notably, Dr. Catherine Le Gales-Camus, Assistant Director-General for WHO’s Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health Cluster (NMH) is Co-Chair of the Conference Committee, together with Dr. Vichai Thienthavorn, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Health of Thailand. The Programme Committee is co-Chaired by Dr Robert Beaglehole, who directs WHO’s Department of Chronic Diseases and Health Promotion, together with the Director-General of the Department of Health of the Thailand Ministry of Public Health.  Among other key WHO professionals planning the Bangkok conference are Dr. Desmond O'Byrne, Coordinator for Health Promotion in the Department of Chronic Diseases and Health Promotion, and Dr. Kwok-Cho Tang, Senior Professional Officer, Health Promotion, Department of Chronic Diseases and Health Promotion.

To all the WHO contributors, and to the government of Thailand, the IUHPE extends its resources and energy, to help ensure that the Bangkok conference in 2005 enjoys the highest degree of success in continuing the legacy of the Ottawa Charter.  As a prime example, the IUHPE’s on-line journal Reviews of Health Promotion and Education On-line (www.rhpeo.org) will provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and debate about the themes of the Bangkok conference and the future of health promotion. 

Website: www.iuhpe.org