Positive strengths approach to realising your potential

The health and wellbeing of a society is an expression of its socioeconomic and physical environments, of people’s capacity to make healthy choices, and of the settings where they live. It is very clear that health does not arise from actions pursued solely by the health sector; rather, it is a manifestation of all public policies and how they individually, or in interaction with each other, promote or damage health (Health 21: The health for all policy framework for the WHO European Region, 1999).

The fundamental message from the World Health Organization (WHO) is that there is a need to generate widespread action and accountability for health and awareness of mutual objectives in protecting health across all sectors of government. Health is not only the preserve of the health sector but needs to be considered by decision makers in all sectors and at the level of the individual. Policies and actions need to be orientated towards the promotion of health in all sectors (health proofing policy) p104.

Business and industry have become increasingly aware of the advantages of sound environmental and health practice. This has come about not just in response to the health sector but as a result of increased consumer demand for environmentally friendly and health-promoting production processes and products (p106).

The WHO also recognises that people’s role in caring for themselves and determining their own health is not sufficiently recognised and that local communities are not involved enough in dealing with problems of health and health care (p118). Much more health can be created if health care systems recognize and acknowledge the actual and potential contribution people can make to their own health (self-care) and take active steps to support them to do so. It is a public responsibility to ensure that citizens receive extensive, accurate and timely information on health and health care through various communication channels; information itself exerts a key influence on people’s health and on how they use health care services. In Many countries, there is a growing vogue for the use of ‘alternative’ treatments and service providers. The perception of human beings as holistic entities with the right to make free choices recognises and tolerates, even welcomes the existence of complementary or integrative health care alongside conventional medicine. However, in this area, too, high ethical standards need to be met, consumers must be protected against exploitation, and public funds should be used only for treatments with scientifically proved effect (p121/122).