I have just came across the following quotes from

Davies, J. & Macdonald, G. (1998). Quality, evidence, and effectiveness in
health promotion: Striving for certainties. London UK: Routledge, on what
health promotion is and isn't.

"The key concepts in [the World Health definition of health promotion as
'the process of enabling people to increase control over, and improve their
health'] this definition are ‘process' and ‘control'; and therefore
effectiveness and quality assurance in health promotion must focus on
enabling and empowerment. If the activity under consideration is not
enabling and empowering it is not health promotion" (Macdonald and Davies,
1997,  p. 6).

"These concepts [of enabling and empowerment] are reflected in the action
areas of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion [building healthy public
policy, creating supportive environments, strengthening community action,
developing personal skills, and reorienting health services] which
fundamentally advocates a basic change in the way society is organized and
resources distributed" (Macdonald and Davies, 1997, p. 6).


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Dennis Raphael, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Associate Director,
Masters of Health Science Program in Health Promotion
Department of Public Health Sciences
Graduate Department of Community Health
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