Health gain: Health gain is a way to express improved health outcomes. It can be used to reflect the relative advantage of one form of health intervention over another in producing the greatest health gain. Reference: new definition The Jakarta Declaration indicates that health promotion “acts on the determinants of health to create the greatest health… Read More

Health expectancy: Health expectancy is a population-based measure of the proportion of expected life span estimated to be healthful and fulfilling, or free of illness, disease and disability according to social norms and perceptions and professional standards. Reference: new definition Health expectancy belongs to a new generation or type of health indicator which are currently… Read More

Health development: Health development is the process of continuous, progressive improvement of the health status of individuals and groups in a population. Reference: Terminology Information System. WHO, Geneva, 1997 The Jakarta Declaration describes health promotion as an essential element of health development. Source: Health Promotion Glossary (1998), WHO/HPR/HEP/98.1

Health communication: Health communication is a key strategy to inform the public about health concerns and to maintain important health issues on the public agenda. The use of the mass and multimedia and other technological innovations to disseminate useful health information to the public, increases awareness of specific aspects of individual and collective health as… Read More

Health behaviour: Any activity undertaken by an individual, regardless of actual or perceived health status, for the purpose of promoting, protecting or maintaining health, whether or not such behaviour is objectively effective towards that end. Reference: Health Promotion Glossary, 1986 It is possible to argue that almost every behaviour or activity by an individual has an… Read More

Equity in health: Equity means fairness. Equity in health means that people’s needs guide the distribution of opportunities for well-being. Reference: Equity in health and health care. WHO, Geneva, 1996 The WHO global strategy of achieving Health for All is fundamentally directed towards achieving greater equity in health between and within populations, and between countries. This… Read More

Epidemiology: Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to the control of health problems. Reference: Last, JM. Dictionary of Epidemiology. UK, 1988 Epidemiological information, particularly that defining individual, population and/or physical environmental risks has been at the core of public… Read More

Enabling: In health promotion, enabling means taking action in partnership with individuals or groups to empower them, through the mobilization of human and material resources, to promote and protect their health. Reference: new definition The emphasis in this definition on empowerment through partnership, and on the mobilization of resources draws attention to the important role of health… Read More

Empowerment for health: In health promotion, empowerment is a process through which people gain greater control over decisions and actions affecting their health. Reference: new definition Empowerment may be a social, cultural, psychological or political process through which individuals and social groups are able to express their needs, present their concerns, devise strategies for involvement… Read More

Determinants of health: The range of personal, social, economic and environmental factors which determine the health status of individuals or populations. Reference: new definition The factors which influence health are multiple and interactive. Health promotion is fundamentally concerned with action and advocacy to address the full range of potentially modifiable determinants of health – not only those which… Read More