During the past weeks the Jakarta Conference on Health Promotion has been an item of this discussion group. The main issue referred to participation in that conference. I have been aware of the Jakarta Conference for quite some time and I have tried to figure out what it is all about. Given the assumed importance of the conference, it seems to me that public information policies of WHO are not satisfying at all. Up until now, we have not yet received information what will be going on in this conference, we don't know the profile of participants (though there is indication that closer links to industry and governments are to be developed), and we have no idea whatsoever what the notorious *Jakarta Declaration* will be about. We can blame all these deficits on the bueraucratic and political procedures of WHO, and perhaps, we are right to do so. To me, a different aspect of the situation is much more important. We are obviously caught by WHO's activities rather than by what health promotion and public health policies on international, regional, and national levels should all be about. We seem to wait for *Mother Mighty WHO* to tell us where to go from here. I have my doubts that WHO is able to deliver an adequate message. The organization has its severe problems with its member states when it comes to public health policies. The Clinton Administration, for example, is trying to cut down on WHO's public health policies in terms of social policies aiming at the improvement of living conditions and lifestyles conducive to health. WHO is an inter-governmental organization and those who pay the membership fees select the music WHO is performing accordingly. Health promotion and public health have gone beyond the political and perhaps structural limits of what WHO is able to provide and support. This is particularly true if you look at the six Regional Offices of WHO which enjoy a substantial amount of independence from what HQ in Geneva is doing. It's within the Regional Offices where the *real work*, i.e. the application (or rejection) of WHO-HQ's initiatives happens. I guess it's time that WE organize ourselves and work for the goals we find important rather than waiting what WHO may deliver them via some glossy brochures (or even brochures on recycled paper). Our own activities may even help WHO staff to discuss within their organization programs that go a few steps further than the ones we are able to observe today. Eberhard Wenzel Griffith University Faculty of Environmental Sciences Nathan, Qld. 4111 Australia Tel.: 61-7-3875 7103 Fax: 61-7-3875 7459 e-mail: [log in to unmask]