Global Health Promotion

Publications in this journal

• Article: The Salutogenic Model of Health: enhancing its utility as a framework for health promotion research.

  Mittelmark, Bull
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  ABSTRACT: (special issue for IUHPE World Conference 2013. In print.) Despite health promotion’s enthusiasm for the Salutogenic Model of Health, researchers have paid little attention to Antonovsky’s central ideas about the ease/dis-ease continuum, defined in terms of ‘breakdown’ (the severity of pain and functional limitations, and the degree is medical care called for, irrespective of specific diseases). Rather, Salutogenesis research has a strong focus on how Sense of Coherence relates to a wide range of specific diseases and illness endpoints. We address two questions: why has Antonovsky’s health concept failed to stimulate research on breakdown, and how can the present emphasis on disease be complemented by an emphasis on positive well-being in the Salutogenic Model? We show that (1) the breakdown concept of health as specified by Antonovsky is circular in definition, (2) it is not measured on the ‘required’ ease/dis-ease continuum, (3) it is not measureable by any validated or reliability-tested assessment tool, and (4) it has not so much been rejected by health promotion, as it has not been considered at all. We show that Antonovsky came to view breakdown as but one aspect of well-being. He was open to the idea of well-being as something more positive than the absence of pain, suffering and need for medical care. We suggest ways to move Salutogenesis research in the direction of well-being in its positive sense.
  Global Health Promotion 08/2013;
• Article: Alimentación no saludable, inactividad física y obesidad en la población infantil colombiana: un llamado urgente al estado y la sociedad civil para emprender acciones efectivas

  Luis Fernando Gómez, Marian Lorena Ibarra, Diego Iván Lucumí, Carlos Mario Arango, Angela Parra, Yazmín Cadena, Viviana Erazo, Diana Celmira Parra
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  ABSTRACT: Resumen: Colombia, al igual que la mayoría de los países de América Latina, ha experimentado una rápida transición nutricional, la cual se ha dado en un contexto caracterizado por altos niveles de pobreza, inequidad y exclusión social; sumado a acelerados procesos de globalización y una creciente influencia política y mediática de las grandes corporaciones de bebidas y alimentos ultra-procesados. Esta situación tiene un impacto potencialmente negativo en la salud infantil, al afectar sus patrones de actividad física y alimentación. Existen acciones poblacionales efectivas para la promoción de la actividad física y la alimentación saludable en niños, niñas y adolescentes, que podrían implementarse en Colombia si se contara con la voluntad política del gobierno y la participación activa de la sociedad civil. (Global Health Promotion, 2012; 19(3): 87–92)
  Global Health Promotion 09/2012; 19(3):87-92.
• Article: Using health promotion competencies for curriculum development in higher education

  Wendy Madsen, Tanya Bell
  Global Health Promotion 01/2012; 19(1):43-49.
• Article: Health promotion competency building in Africa: a call for action.

  Hans E Onya
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  ABSTRACT: The 26 leading authorities in competency-based and accreditation movements in global health promotion, health education, and public health identified eight domains of core competency that are required to engage in effective health promotion practice. The conference held in Galway, Ireland, issued a statement on building competency of health education and health promotion practitioners. Almost all the countries in the African region have structures for health education and/or health promotion that will benefit from the outcome of this conference, a first of its kind. Countries such as South Africa, Botswana and Nigeria have policies that support health education and health promotion development, and capacity building will be encouraged by the Consensus Statement to concentrate on identifying and building capacity within existing infrastructures across government and community sectors. South Africa attempted to establish a Standard Generating Board (SGB) for Health Promotion that envisaged the development of standards and qualifications for part of the second learner category, who hold the National Qualification Framework (NQF) level 5 certificate in health promotion. The author of this commentary joins other colleagues in congratulating the Galway conference participants for identifying the eight domains of core competency that are necessary if health promotion and health education are to develop into a distinct discipline, particularly in the African region.
  Global Health Promotion 07/2009; 16(2):47-50.
• Article: Health promotion competencies: providing a road map for health promotion to assume a prominent role in global health.

  Trevor Shilton
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  ABSTRACT: Understanding of health and its determinants is rapidly expanding and changing. The emergence of chronic diseases as the leading cause of global disease burden and improved understanding of social determinants of health has brought greater focus to the role of prevention in health. The IUHPE has shown outstanding leadership through the Galway Consensus Statement. Its three recommendations appropriately focus on stimulating dialogue, developing global consensus and communicating the results to key stakeholders. The IUHPE can further enhance progress of the statement by developing participative processes to ensure engagement and ownership by its members. The Galway Consensus Statement can be used to advance professional standards in global health promotion by: (1) providing a common language by which health promotion and its meaning can be communicated to others; (2) providing a framework for building capacity in the health promotion workforce and in the health workforce in general; (3) providing international consensus for consistency in university health promotion courses; (4) providing a framework for credentialing in health promotion; (5) better informing health promotion engagement with other significant workforce sectors and advancing partnership as a key way of working. A vital further application of the Galway Consensus Statement is to inform advocacy. Advocacy is vital to ensure health promotion is better resourced and prioritized by policy makers. Advocacy and communication are vital tools to highlight the evidence, establish the policy fit and infrastructure requirements of health promotion, and present health promotion solutions based on evidence of effectiveness.
  Global Health Promotion 07/2009; 16(2):42-6.
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  Article: Development and utilization of professional standards in health education and promotion: US and UK experiences.

  Viv Speller, Becky J Smith, Linda Lysoby
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  ABSTRACT: This article defines standards, discusses the components of standards development, and provides an overview of the use of standards in the credentialing processes of health promotion and education specialists. Credentialing or registering agencies related to health promotion and education in the US and UK are identified and their role in credentialing processes is discussed. Examples outlining the development and application of professional standards in both the UK and US are presented. In order to advance the development of international competencies in health promotion, and move towards agreement between different country accrediting systems, there needs to be additional clarification and/or standardization of health promotion terminology at the global level, and further in-depth work to review the implementation of different systems on the ground to enhance our common understanding of the standards employed and competencies required in order to assist the development and utilization of standards for health promotion and education specialists in various countries/regions.
  Global Health Promotion 07/2009; 16(2):32-41.
• Article: [Professional training and competency development for health promotion capacity building in Latin America].

  Hiram V Arroyo
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  ABSTRACT: The subject of health promotion professional training has raised a lot of interest in academic spheres, in professional organizations and in the health services sector at global and regional levels. Some of the topics that have stimulated regional dialogue and actions have been the following: developing curriculum and professional competencies for health promotion and health education academic programs; defining competencies and know-how in order to reorient health promotion capacity building initiatives for public health personnel; strengthening and increasing the academic and professional health promotion networks in Latin America; and organizing meetings and academic events and publications around the subject. During the academic years 2006-8, the Inter-American Coalition of Universities and Training Centers for Health Education and Health Promotion Personnel (www.ciueps.org) has been studying the different foci, competencies and characteristics of health promotion and health education professional training programs in the Latin American region. As part of this study, they have observed differences in curriculum foci between undergraduate, postgraduate and other levels of academic training and certifications. The Coalition as well as other Latin American entities has reiterated the challenges in the field of health promotion of professional training in the region. These include: maintaining an active forum to constantly refine professional competencies;expanding offerings at the different levels of health promotion training; developing courses on health-promotion-related disciplines; increasing the networks and academic exchanges between institutions in Latin America; encouraging the development of international courses on health promotion; increasing the production of theory and concepts on health promotion, health education and related practices in the Latin American context; improving dissemination of experiences in publications, at conferences and in electronic exchange forums.
  Global Health Promotion 07/2009; 16(2):66-72, 56.
• Article: The Galway Consensus.

  David V McQueen
  Global Health Promotion 07/2009; 16(2):3-4, 57-8, 64-5.
• Article: Towards the development of skills-based health promotion competencies: the Canadian experience.

  Brian Hyndman
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  ABSTRACT: The health promotion competencies presented in the Galway Consensus Conference Statement build on an emerging international literature that includes a proposed set of Canadian competencies developed for health promotion practitioners. In Canada, the creation of draft health promotion competencies by Health Promotion Ontario (HPO) was fueled by increased concerns about the potential marginalization of health promotion as well as a national public health renewal process that placed increased emphasis on competency development as a means of strengthening the public health workforce. This commentary presents the proposed Canadian competencies and provides an overview of the process utilized to develop them. Key similarities and differences between the proposed Canadian competencies and the competencies outlined in the Consensus Statement are also explored. The Canadian experience illustrates the way in which national health promotion competencies can be shaped by cultural and political factors unique to a specific jurisdiction.
  Global Health Promotion 07/2009; 16(2):51-5.
• Article: A rights-based approach to accessing health determinants.

  Fran Perkins
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  ABSTRACT: This commentary summarizes the experience and learnings from a site visit in May 2008 to a drop-in centre for vulnerable women in downtown Cairo run by El-Shehab Institution for Comprehensive Development, which provides street outreach for the prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI). The Centre successfully provides services and support for women, many of who are displaced or refugees and are from the most marginalized areas in Cairo. Through a rights-based approach to the work, the Centre helps people living in the slums fight and win the right to access clean water, sewerage and electrical power in their communities. An individual-based approach to human rights is also used. In the last year El-Shehab have helped 67 women go to court and win their marriage rights from husbands who have abandoned them. Their approach is an example of a successful way to achieve access to basic health determinants.
  Global Health Promotion 02/2009; 16(1):61-4.
• Article: The struggle for abandonment of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) in Egypt.

  Gerard Molleman, Lilian Franse
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  ABSTRACT: This commentary describes a visit to the Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting project in Cairo. FGM/C is a very serious problem in Egypt and other countries in the North of Africa. Among girls between the age of 15-17, 77% have been cut, with very serious health consequences. In Egypt, there is a comprehensive strategy led by very enthusiastic employees of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood with support of UNICEF. At a national level a broad coalition is being built that tries to mobilise the legal, medical and media communities to overcome the practice of FGM/C and realising adequate laws that criminalise FGM/C.At a local level two community projects were started in 160 villages in Upper and Lower Egypt for raising community awareness and dialogue on FGM/C. That is the only way to create a growing social movement that can collectively abandon the practice of FGM/C.
  Global Health Promotion 02/2009; 16(1):57-60.
• Article: Overview of content.

  Maurice B Mittelmark
  Global Health Promotion 02/2009; Suppl 1:14-5.
• Article: UNICEF's contribution to address the social determinants of health.

  Asha George
  Global Health Promotion 02/2009; Suppl 1:64-5.
• Article: Social determinants of health -- a country perspective: issues, priorities and action.

  Beth W Mugo
  Global Health Promotion 02/2009; Suppl 1:30-2.
• Article: The global impacts of climate change on human health.

  Richard S Odingo
  Global Health Promotion 02/2009; Suppl 1:68-71.