Core Document - International Union for Health Promotion and ...

arguments could be overcome with open dialogue on all sides.
2 Providing the right level of resources for health promotion is ‘politically safe’. The
major ethical dilemmas facing governments over issues such as cloning and genetic
engineering, are not part of the core health promotion argument.
3 Health promotion, properly resourced and sustained, is also
inherently accepted by a wide variety of population groups, who
simply regard it as ‘common sense’. It provides governments with an effective and
practical approach to dealing with important social issues.
4 The Canadian experience demonstrates how the health promotion concepts can
translate into effective political action plans. Health promotion can demonstrate
that governments are ‘doing’ something.
5 Health promotion is capable of affecting the largest and one of the
most influential population groupings – elderly people. They are an
important political constituency.
6 Health promotion can also provide practical responses and play a part in dealing
with other major political problems. Interventions can help the unemployed find
self-esteem and regain the energy to look for work; programmes can reduce the
psychological impacts of stress, and reduce anxiety and depression; strategies can
ensure greater academic excellence from schooling and greater productivity in the
workplace.
7 The dialogue between the political representatives and the health
promoters agreed that as Europe faces a new millennium, decision
takers in the European Union and in member state governments
should be urged to re-examine the health promotion case, and devote
appropriate and sustainable resources towards those initiatives which are backed
by evidence that they work.
Bridging the Gap
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