Health Promotion

Running head: HEALTH PROMOTION 1
Health Promotion
Students Name
Institutional Affiliation

HEALTH PROMOTION 2
Introduction
Ottawa charter was the first International Conference on Health promotion held on 21st
November 1986 in Ottawa. The Ottawa charter identifies six main areas of action for health
promotion which include building a healthy public policy, strengthening community actions,
creating supportive environments, developing personals skills and reorienting health services.
My health promotion program is obesity in Pakenham. There exists a strong relationship between
poor literacy and health education and the increased cases of obesity in Pakenham. It is therefore
vital to ensure that nurses and other health professionals increase health promotion measures
with reference to the actions of the Ottawa charter are increased in the area to help the people
improve their health.
Building a healthy public policy
Building a healthy public policy entails ensuring that health policies are easier and
possible for people to improve their health (The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, 2016).
Policies play an important role in enhancing physical activities and increasing access to healthy
food which is critical in promoting a healthy weight and hence preventing obesity. Nurses play a
crucial role in ensuring that the policies implemented include aspects of health promotion (What
Is the Nurse's Role in Health Promotion, 2017). Firstly, my health promotion program intends to
ensure that food policies are implemented to regulate the consumption of fatty and sugary foods
by ensuring that manufacturers indicate the level of sugar and fats on the labels (Roberto, Soo &
Pomeranz, 2015).
Secondly, my program also intends to ensure that more policies that promote health
awareness are implemented in Pakenham. For instance, there is a need for Nurses to offer health

HEALTH PROMOTION 3
education to people ensure that they are aware of the number of fats and sugars they are
supposed to consume and the health effects of consuming too much of unhealthy food
(Chiverton, Votava & Tortoretti, 2013). Thirdly, my health program seeks to ensure that fatty
and sugary foods are highly taxed while the prices for vegetables are reduced. Lastly, my
program also plans to ensure that there is a regulation of the advertising of unhealthy foods
(Roberto et al., 2015). This will play a significant role in ensuring that people reduce their intake
of these foods. However, Lack of knowledge on how to implement the policies might impact the
success of my program.
Creating supportive environments
Creating supportive environments ensures that people are safe from factors that can affect
one's health (The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, 2016). Research indicates that creating
supportive environments help people make healthy choices concerning physical activities and
their diet. Lack of physical activities is one of the leading causes of obesity in Pakenham.
Although physical activity may be considered a personal choice, it highly depends on the
supporting environments that help people adopt this healthy lifestyle (Supportive environments
needed to encourage physical activity, 2012). Low socioeconomic status is associated with
increased cases of obesity. Therefore, my health program encourages physical activities among
these people may help reduce the cases of obesity (Lobstein & Swinburn, n.d).
Nurses play a crucial role in educating people to engage in activities that improve their
health and reduce obesity (Kemppainen, Tossavainen & Turunen, 2013). For instance, they
encourage, convince and provide people with attitude, skill, and knowledge to engage in physical
activities and make an informed choice about the food they take. However, health education and