Planning and Evaluation of Health Promotion

Health promotion is a key approach to sustainably improving public health. Unlike curative approaches, which focus on treating disease, health promotion emphasizes preventive measures and community empowerment to control health determinants and improve their quality of life. In the context of modern health systems, health promotion is viewed not merely as a health education activity, but as a social and political process involving various sectors in creating a supportive environment for health.
The development of the global concept of health promotion has been heavily influenced by the public health paradigm, which places behavioral, environmental, and policy factors as the primary determinants of health. The Lalonde Report in Canada in 1974 was a significant milestone in shifting the focus of the health system from a predominance of medical services to a more comprehensive approach to the determinants of health (Lalonde, 1974). Subsequently, the concept of health promotion was further strengthened through various international conferences, most notably the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion convened by the World Health Organization in 1986 (World Health Organization, 1986).