SHANGHAI, 21 NOVEMBER 2016 - The 9th Global conference on health promotion opened here today, representing a powerful opportunity for the international community to promote the health of all people on the planet as part of the United Nations Development Agenda 2030.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang opened the four-day Conference, which is being co-organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People’s Republic of China. Also addressing the opening of the event were WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan, three other heads of United Nations agencies and, by video, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and Michael Bloomberg, WHO Global Ambassador for Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs).
More than 1100 people are participating in the event, including around 40 Ministers of Health and over 100 mayors from around the world and China, making it one of the most important global health events in recent years involving the leadership of local, national and international bodies.
Dr Bernhard Schwartlander, WHO’s Representative to China, says the Conference will send a strong message to governments that the promotion of health must be a cornerstone of their national plans for the next 15 years to develop sustainable futures for their societies.
“If populations are not healthy, there is no way countries can have prosperous and sustainable futures,” says Schwartlander. “The level of health people enjoy is closely tied to the prospects of urban, national and global sustainable development.”
The goal of the event, which ends Thursday, is to demonstrate the close links between health and sustainable development, and call for intensified commitment and action to promote and protect people’s physical and mental wellbeing. The Conference’s three main themes are good governance, healthy cities and health literacy for health promotion.
“The new 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda can succeed if governments, mayors and other leaders protect, serve and inform their citizens in the many ways needed to help people lead healthy lives,” adds Dr Schwartlander. “A healthier population will provide a more productive, positive and peaceful future, a result that is at the heart of the Sustainable Development Agenda.”
Health promotion enables people to increase control over their own health through heightened awareness of, and access to, healthy choices, services and information that protect and advance public health. It works to address and prevent the root causes of ill health, not just focus on treatment and cure. Governments, community networks and individuals all have unique, and related, roles to play in promoting access to better health.
The Conference will show health promotion is critical to many areas of health, including road safety, physical activity and mental health, to the control of antimicrobial resistance, infectious diseases, childhood obesity, tobacco use and non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
The event also marks the 30th anniversary of the first such conference, held in Canada, which delivered the landmark Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion.
“The Ottawa Charter broke new ground, showing that people’s health depends on more than their personal choices, but rather action from the whole of society,” says Dr Schwartlander. “Thirty years on, the Shanghai Conference will take the promotion of health in our increasingly interconnected world to a new level. By tapping the great potential of modern technology, and grasping the potential of the Sustainable Development Agenda, we have the strongest opportunity ever to provide health for all.”
| Chinese Association on Tobacco Control Copyright © 1992-2011 906-907 Anhuidongli, Chaoyang District Beijing 100101 |