It tends to leave out programs and other services that involve small numbers of people and groups. Terms and definitions come and go and the difference is just semantics. There is a real, practical difference. Health promotion is a very broad, all encompassing approach, which rests on some dearly held values . On the other hand, population health is about specific policy initiatives.
Health promotion is a tool or approach to achieving population health objectives.
Population health is a set of policy initiatives removed from the broader field of health promotion. Population health promotion Population health promotion approaches target the whole population, including those at no, low, moderate and high risk. It is designed to combine the concrete nature of population health with the broader health promotion approach. The Determinants of Health of Populations. This question was prepared for the Canadian Health Network by The Centre for Health Promotion, University of Toronto .