I don't see a great deal of difference.  Just as some people in health
promotion mean a focus on underlying social and environmental determinants
(as well as lifestyles) and others see it primarily as individual behaviour
change, there is considerable variance in how people use the concept of
population health.  Public health is a much older term.  What's probably
less important than sorting out the terms in some academic or final sense is
stipulating what you mean by them in the context of your paper.  In that
sense, I might suggest that both health promotion and population health mean
roughly the same thing:  a focus on the underlying social and environmental
determinants of health and, consequently, an orientation towards public
policies that reduce social inequalities and environmental damage; and on
those living, working and social environments that support healthy living.
I could cobble together more detailed distinctions for you if you'd like,
but don't want to jam up the list-serv with them.  Let me know personally if
you'd like them.

At 05:05 PM 1/14/98 -0500, you wrote:
>I am preparing a paper for the National Council of Welfare on programs
>for preschool kids.  I will be using population health as the framework
>for the paper, and am a bit stuck.
>
>Our purpose is to describe social policy in relatively plain language.
>Any ideas on how to describe population health as different from public
>health or health promotion?  In just a couple of sentences?
>
>Honestly, I have worked in health promotion for quite a while, and I
>still cannot describe the differences without getting into long
>descriptions.
>
>
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Ronald Labonte, PhD
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