Health Promotion: Trajectory and Current Perspectives

Health promotion is linked to the living conditions of populations. In the last 40 years, health promotion reappears as a promising strategy for the field of Public Health. The health promotion movement emerged more vigorously from the 1970s onwards in developed countries—Canada, the United States and Western Europe. It is particularly in Canada that the concept of health promotion was revived, with the publication in 1974 of the Lalonde Report (A New Perspective on the Health of Canadians). This document placed health promotion at the level of strategic planning. The Lalonde Report has had a significant impact, providing insights into the recent health promotion movement across the world. Later, in 1978, the World Health Organization (WHO) held the 1st International Conference on Primary Health Care in Alma-Ata. This conference emphatically reaffirmed a broad concept of health. Health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease. This reconceptualization of health was fundamental in this process, as it served as the basis for the current health promotion movement. In this chapter, we intend to recover the trajectory and developments of the concept of health promotion and point out its future perspectives.