Jasmine S.

Hepburn
Dr. Samit Bordoloi
HSP 495- Capstone
13 May 2015
Health Promotion Annotated Bibliography

McPhail, K., Fredericks, B., & Brough, M. (2013). Beyond the accolades: A postcolonial
critique of the foundations of the Ottawa Charter. Global Health Promotion,
20(2), 22-29. doi: 10.1177/1757975913490427
I appreciated how the postcolonial standpoint of the authors shows that the Ottawa
Charter reflected very Western/colonizer centric worldviews without providing
opportunities for countervailing indigenous and marginalized people to raise their voices
as this is a perspective often ignored by western literature. There is an irony in the fact
that the charter calls for participation, empowerment, and social justice yet there were
many groups left out from the creation of the charter. The authors recognize the strategic
importance of the charter in the establishment of health promotion and applaud the
declared need for action on social and economic determinants of health but the authors
call for people to question the Charters assumptions and critically reflect on that
moment in history as well as for health promoters to shift their gaze from the other
towards a reflection of themselves.

United Nations. (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (1st ed.). Paris, France:
General Assembly.

On December 10, 1948 the United Nations historically proclaimed and adopted the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Upon declaration, the U.N. called upon its
Member countries to publicize the declaration particularly in educational settings and
regardless of political climate. The declaration is based on recognition of the inherent
dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family as
well as fundamental freedoms and is still recognized as a monumental document for
protecting human rights. The declaration came on the heels of the barbarous acts
committed during WWII and was heavily influenced by the world political climate of the
time. It aims at preventing such acts from happening again and serves as a common
standard of achievement for nations and individuals.

Tountas, Y. (2009). The historical origins of the basic concepts of health promotion and
education: the role of ancient Greek philosophy and medicine. Health Promotion
International, 24(2). Retrieved from: doi:10.1093/heapro/dap006
The ancient Greeks believed that balance was the key to health. An equilibrium of
environmental forces (wind, temperature, water, ground and food) as well as individual
habits (diet, alcohol, sexual behavior, but also work and leisure) depended upon one
another for health. Alongside that, without a healthy environment to depend on the
internal systems would be out of balance and disruptions in this delicate equilibrium were
seen to cause illness. This definition of health as internal and external equilibrium
revolutionized medical thought. In Greek thought, the social environment was believed
critical to affect goals of achieving empowerment, autonomy, self-sufficiency, and also
citizens health. Asklepieion care units were places where any citizen, regardless of

position in society, could receive care. To pay for such care, the donations of the rich
were used to subsidize care for the poor not unlike the contemporary welfare state. These
early Greek concepts helped to establish the foundations of health promotion and
education in the modern era according to the Ottawa Charter. This article gives the
benefit of a better understanding of where the modern ideas regarding health and health
promotion originated.

Baum, F. (2007) Cracking the nut of health equity: top down and bottom up pressure for
action on the social determinants of health. Promotion & Education, 14(2), 90119.
This article looks at top down and bottom up pressure in order to create policies that
create equity in social determinants of health. Top down pressure refers to
governments, and bottom up refers to civil society. The point of such pressure is to get
these groups to take action to encourage governments to take action and develop
popular constituencies to support action initiated by the government and get
governments and civilians more involved in creating equitable, healthy societies. To
create healthy and equitable environments, environments must be designed specifically
specific nations and communities. Looking globally, we can see these ideas compared
and contrasted between countries such as Norway and the United States. The article states
a need for the WHOs Commission on Social Determinants of Health to gain deeper
knowledge of the process by which societies adopt fair and just social policies that in turn
create health equity.

Marmot, M. (Mach 19, 2005). Social determinants of health inequalities. The Lancet,
365. Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(05)71146-6
The current policies of structural adjustment in place through the International Monetary
Fund have been criticized for not benefitting disadvantaged people in poor countries, and
rightly so. The gross inequalities in life expectancy within and between countries are not
inevitable. Among rich countries, there is known to be little correlation between life
expectancy and GDP. Along with poverty, social factors are the root cause of many health
disparities within and between countries. Health policies, because of their relationship
with social determinants of health, cannot be confined to the health sector. Health
policies should instead be the concern of policy makers in every sector. The WHO has
put together the Commission on Social Determinants of Health in order to create
international policies that have peoples basic needs in mind by compiling a better
understanding of the social determinants of health. The Commission will have one basic
dogma policies that harm human health need to be identified and, where possible,
changed.

Whitehead, M. (1991). The concepts and principles of equity and health. Health
Promotion International, 6(3), 217-228.
This article associated with the World Health Organization (WHO) looks to clearly define
the concepts and principles that distinguish equity from health. The purpose of
distinguishing equity from health is to show what the WHO is working towards by
promoting equity in health as well as what they are not aiming for. The goal of
promoting equity in health is not, as some believe, to have everyone have the same health

status or health services irrespective of need which is an unrealistic goal. Instead, the
WHOs goal of equity in health is looking to reduce or eliminate (health differences)
which result from factors which are considered to be both avoidable and unfair. Equity
in health care is based on, equal access to available care for equal need; equal utilization
for equal need; equal quality of care for all.

World Health Organization. (1986). Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, 1986. Ottawa,
Canada: World Health Organization.
The World Health Organizations (WHO) 1986 Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion
defines, clarifies, and makes a commitment to health promotion. WHO defines health
promotion as not being confined to the health sector, its anything that affects wellbeing.
Health promotion heavily focuses on equity as being essential for health. Political,
economic, social, cultural, environmental, behavioral and biological factors can all either
promote, or be harmful to health and so WHO focuses on advocating to make these
conditions favorable. Action in health promotion looks to healthy public policy, create
supportive environments, strengthen community action, develop personal skills and
reorient health services. The Ottawa Charter also asks participants in the conference make
a commitment to a strong public health alliance. The benefit of public commitments such
as this one is the accountability that follows. When such commitments have been made
countries may be held responsible for promoting health and may be held accountable by
fellow organization members as well as their citizens.