Letter – Is a unified definition of health promotion coterminous with the ‘new public health’?

This book examines the evidence on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of health promotion policies and projects, with particular emphasis on the UK. As an introduction, this chapter clarifies the key concepts in the health promotion literature such as ‘new public health’, civil society, poverty and empowerment. It first considers the potentially disputed assumption that ‘health’ is an unequivocal concept before discussing the social determinants of health, the emergence of a ‘new public health’ in the UK that consists of health promotion as a model of health policy, and the role of civil society in health promotion. It also explains what poverty is, the impact of public health and health promotion interventions, the purpose of health promotion, and motives for improving people's health (such as empowerment, charity, economics). Finally, it reflects on the future for health promotion.

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Appeals to Autonomy and Obedience: Continuity and Change in Governing Technologies in Danish and Swedish Health Promotion

Medical History ◽

10.1017/s0025727300006037 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 55 (1) ◽

pp. 27-40 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Signild Vallgårda

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Promotion ◽

Disease Prevention ◽

Fundamental Change ◽

Continuity And Change ◽

New Public Health ◽

Health Authorities ◽

New Public ◽

Prevention And Health Promotion ◽

Apparent Evidence

The increasingly used concept new public health indicates that a fundamental change has occurred in the goals and methods of disease prevention and health promotion. The change is often said to imply less expert-driven governing of citizens. In this article, governing technologies in the field of public health in Denmark and Sweden are analysed to investigate whether substantial changes have taken place in the governing efforts. In the endeavours unfolded in relation to health examinations for children and pregnant women during the last eighty years, no apparent evidence exists of a significant change in governing technologies. Regulatory, expert-driven and empowering technologies have been used during the whole period; additionally, appeals to autonomy, responsibility and obedience as well as to trust in authorities co-exist throughout the period. The fundamental change is the huge increase in the health authorities’ governing ambitions.

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Ever Evolving Concept of a New Public Health

Californian Journal of Health Promotion ◽

10.32398/cjhp.v8i1.2033 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 82-87 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nancy Shehadeh

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Promotion ◽

Native Americans ◽

Mentally Ill ◽

Health Issues ◽

Comprehensive Overview ◽

New Public Health ◽

New Public ◽

Valuable Book ◽

Models Of Disease

In the second edition of The New Public Health, authors Tulchinsky and Varavikova present a comprehensive overview of the evolution of public health and health issues. Their book succeeds in introducing the broad areas of this expanding field as they seek to balance traditional concerns for populations with more modern concerns for individuals and human rights. One of the main strengths of this text is the authors‟ coverage of many contemporary public health topics, such as specialized communities, which include the mentally ill, homosexual men and women, immigrants, and Native Americans. However, the authors provide very limited criticism of prior mishaps in public health and little emphasis on health promotion, a major component of current approaches. Instead, there is an overemphasis on an epidemiological perspective of many public health topics. Admission of failures to address certain issues adequately, a more robust presentation of the premises of health promotion, and more attention to ecological models of disease prevention would have strengthened the second edition of The New Public Health. Perhaps the authors will include these dimensions of the 21st century in subsequent editions of their valuable book.

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