Ottawa's own WHO charter was part of a new public health movement around the world. Health Promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. The prerequisites and prospects for health cannot be ensured by the health sector alone.
Health promotion goes beyond health care.
It puts health on the agenda of policy makers in all sectors and at all levels, directing them to be aware of the health consequences of their decisions and to accept their responsibilities for health. Health promotion policy requires the identification of obstacles to the adoption of healthy public policies in non-health sectors, and ways of removing them. The aim must be to make the healthier choice the easier choice for policy makers as well. Health cannot be separated from other goals. Health promotion works through concrete and effective community action in setting priorities, making decisions, planning strategies and implementing them to achieve better health.