Hello,

Last Friday Mike Nelson described a paper that he wrote for Health
Canada in early 1996 called "Health Promotion and New Information
Technologies".
He said:
>More than a year and a half ago I wrote a paper under contract for
Health
Canada, that, among other things, called for a national consultation on
the
role of new information technology in relation to health promotion and
public health.  The issue of the impact of centralizing information
dissemination on the voluntary sector was also raised.  ... the point is
we need to have a full discussion of
the new information technology and its implications for public health
and
health promotion.  It can be wonderful or it can be a curse, it depends
on
how we put it to work

This same paper was described by Michel O'Neill in this list in February
in this year with an address for getting copies.

Madeline Boscoe asked for an email copy of the paper - but that is not
necessary. This fascinating paper is available on-line at Health
Canada's web-site called Health Promotion On-Line in the HP Programs
Development Resources section.  For a direct access to the listing of
the documents in this area, go to
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hppb/healthpromotiondevelopment/resources.htm
You will see a direct link to the document plus:
        Health Promotion and New Information Technologies... This paper
deals with new and rapidly changing technologies and their potential
impact on a relatively new and evolving field. The aim is to provide
advice that may assist Health Canada and other key players in the field
of health promotion to think through and strategically plan their
involvement with the new technologies. Here the advice has taken the
form of recommendations that for the most part, call on the health
promotion community to consult and plan together to ensure that the
positive potential of the new technologies to help promote health is
realized, and to minimize the possible negative effects.

Mike was concerned that the paper seemed to be lost at Health Canada; an
unfortunate situation when it is actually available on Health Canada's
web site along with a number of other useful documents, such as
"Population Health Promotion: An Integrated Model of Population Health
and Health Promotion".  I hope that the significant points made in
Mike's paper get widely discussed and shared, both within the federal
government and more importantly, in international venues like this on
health promotion.

Alison
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Alison Stirling, health promotion consultant
Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse
1(800) 263-2846 ext 226 OR (416) 408-2121 ext 226
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Internet: http://www.web.net/~stirling/
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