The 6th Global Conference on Health Promotion held in Bangkok in 2005 was an opportunity for the World Health Organisation to review the current status of world health promotion and consider whether the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and the Jakarta Declaration on Leading Health Promotion into the 21st Century remained relevant.
The delegates noted that in the two decades since the presentation of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, the world has undergone changes which lead to both challenges and opportunities in public health.
Significant factors that influence public health in a changing globalising world, as noted by the delegates at the 6th International Conference on Health Promotion, include:
- income and status disparities in and between countries;
- climate change;
- urbanisation; and
- globalisation.
Addressing these factors require commitments from governments, private enterprise and individual responsibility. The Bangkok Charter for Health Promotion in a Globalised World set out four key commitments to address the factors influencing public health and to attempt to meet the United Nation’s call for health for all.
The key commitments in the Bangkok Charter for Health Promotion in a Globalised World are complementary and additional to the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and the Jakarta Declaration on Leading Health Promotion into the 21st Century.
Key Commitment One - Global Development Agenda Centrality
The delegates called for health promotion to become central to the globalisation process with governments to lead the way. To meet the United Nation’s target of health for all, this section of the Bangkok Charter for Health Promotion in a Globalised World calls for close the gap campaigns to reduce health inequalities, for fair trade practices and for health promotion to become part of governmental domestic and foreign policies.
The global development agenda centrality key commitment builds on the call in the Jakarta Declaration on Leading Health Promotion into the 21st Century’s priority area of increasing investments for health development.
Key Commitment Two - All of Government Responsibility
All levels of government are required to support health promotion activities if the global target of health for all is to be met. Supporting health promotion activities include providing sustainable funding and investments in health to be given priority.
The delegates at the 6th International Conference on Health Promotion called for governments to use health impact assessment tools when considering legislation and policy.
Both the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and the Jakarta Declaration on Leading Health Promotion into the 21st Century called for government responsibility. In the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, this was enshrined in the key priority areas of building healthy public policy and creating supportive environments. In the Jakarta Declaration on Leading Health Promotion into the 21st Century, there was a call to secure an infrastructure for health promotion.
Key Commitment Three – Key Focus of Communities and Civil Society
In this section of the Bangkok Charter for Health Promotion in a Globalised World, the delegates called for a focus on programs and initiatives that included a commitment to community capacity building and community development.
This key commitment builds on the calls to improve community development in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and the increase community capacity priority area in the Jakarta Declaration for Leading Health Promotion into the 21st Century.
Key Commitment Four – Health Promotion as a Requirement of Good Corporate Practice
The final key commitment for health promotion arising from the 6th International Conference on Health Promotion was a suggestion that health promotion activities should be routinely undertaken by the private sector as good corporate practice.
Both the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and the Jakarta Declaration on Leading Health Promotion into the 21st Century included priority areas which required the private sector that they have an effect on people’s health and should provide opportunities for people to improve individual health. This commitment is also related to the concept of corporate social responsibility.
The World Health Organisation’s 6th International Conference on Health Promotion in 2005 provided an opportunity to address the issue of health promotion in a globalised world. The Bangkok Charter for Health Promotion in a Globalised World sets out four key commitments relating to the health promotion activities and infrastructure and builds upon the work previously undertaken by the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and the Jakarta Declaration on Leading Health Promotion into the 21st Century.
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