Health Promotion Strategies for Diabetes: An Ottawa Charter Review

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of health promotion, focusing on the management of diabetes and the application of the Ottawa Charter. The introduction defines health promotion as a process empowering individuals to control their health, emphasizing the importance of well-being, healthy lifestyles, and fundamental resources like education and social equity. The paper uses the Ottawa Charter's five priority action areas (developing personal skills, reorienting health services, creating supportive environments, building healthy public policies, and strengthening community action) and three key strategies (advocate, mediate, and enable) to analyze health promotion in the context of diabetes. The essay explores the nurse's role in advocating for good health, ensuring equitable access to resources, and mediating between various stakeholders to improve health outcomes. Each action area is discussed in detail, highlighting the nurse's responsibilities in educating individuals, promoting community involvement, and influencing policy to reduce the risk of diabetes. The conclusion reiterates the importance of these strategies in empowering individuals and communities to take control of their health, particularly in managing conditions like diabetes. The paper also cites relevant research and literature to support its claims.

Running head: HEALTH PROMOTION 1
PRINCIPLES OF HEALTH PROMOTION
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Introduction
Health promotion refers to a process that enables individuals to increase their
control over their own health. Health is a resource for daily life, not the objective of
living. Health promotion is a responsibility of the health care systems. It also involves
well-being and healthy lifestyles which are important in health improvement. Good
health requires fundamental resources and conditions such as peace, education,
shelter, food, sustainable resources, income, social equity and justice and a stable
ecosystem. Health Promotion also refers to a miscellaneous approach of encouraging
life-style behaviors that are related to health to both individuals and communities. Health
Promotion is often aimed at allowing people develop control over the health
determinants hence improving their status of health and other factors that influence
health at whole. The chosen condition for this paper is diabetes (Baum & Fisher, 2014).
The Ottawa Charter was purposely endorsed to assist in development of
partnerships and support organizations in creation and maintenance of actions aimed at
promoting health that fully support the wellbeing of individuals and the communities. To
ensure achievement of better health for every person, cooperation and collaboration
amongst all private, public, government, non-governmental, local authorities,
international organizations and the media is very important. The five priority action
areas of health promotion advocated by the Ottawa charter include; development of
personal skills, reorientation of health services, creation of supportive and conducive
environments, establishment of healthy public policies and community action
strengthening. The three major strategies of health promotion highlighted in Ottawa
Charter are advocate, mediate and enable (Milat et al, 2012).).
The first strategy is advocacy. Nurse is often an advocate of good health for both
individuals and communities. Good health is considered as a major resource for various
aspects of human development. Some of these aspects include economic, social,
economic, personal growth and development. These factors largely influence
development of diabetes among individuals and in communities. Additionally, good
health is a very essential dimension of one’s quality of life. It is the role of the nurse as
an advocate of good health to ensure that all economic, political, cultural, social,

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environmental, biological and behavioral factors favour good health. Health promotion
actions taken by nurses are aimed at making these factors favorable by advocating for
health (Egger, Spark & Donovan, 2013).
The second strategy is enable. The main focus of health promotion is
achievement of equity in health. It is the responsibility of the nurse to ensure that there
no health inequalities among populations as far as diabetes is concerned. The actions
of health promotion are meant to reduce the existing differences in current diabetes
status hence ensuring equal resources and opportunities that enable all individuals to
achieve their health potential in full. The nurse should secure a foundation in a
supportive environment, life skills, information access, and opportunities of making right
healthy decisions and choices of life (Tones, Robinson & Tilford, 2013).
The third strategy of health promotion is mediate. Nurse is a mediator between
the external factors such as government, media, industry, organizations and local
authorities and the well-being of communities, individuals and families. Health care
personnel, social and professional groups have a great responsibility in mediating the
various and varying interests in society when pursuing good health (Tones et al., 2013).
Ottawa Charter Action Area 1: Developing personal Skills
In this action, the nurse has a great role in modifying individual and community
behavior to enable them realize some of the adjustments they can make in their lives to
reduce the risk of diabetes development. The nurse is responsible for educating the
community and individual patients on the most suitable and effective skills that are
important in improving their health status (MacDonald, 2012).
Some of the skills that the nurse educate them about include; communication,
decision making, managing their own health, problem-solving and assertiveness. The
nurse encourages people hence promoting effective coping to their illnesses/ conditions
such as diabetes. The information and skills gained should allow people to learn more
about the available options in gaining control over their own health. The nurse should
enlighten and encourage the people to enroll in programs that are beneficial to them. In
these programs, they can learn about healthy eating habits and physical exercises

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which is significantly important in reducing the risk of developing type 2diabetes
(MacDonald, 2012).
Ottawa Charter Action Area 2: Reorienting health services.
Reorienting health services means ensuring availability and accessibility of all
health care services to every member of the community. This action focuses on
effectiveness of the health services regarding promotion, prevention and cure. It is the
role of the nurse to enlighten and encourage the community about free clinic check-ups
for type 1 and 2 diabetes. This promotes health and prevent health inequalities among
community members. The role of nurses of proving medications to patients has been
made easier by the government by providing financial support to cater for the needs of
the diabetic patients or clients (Milat, 2012)
Ottawa Charter Action Area 3: Creating Supportive Environment
This priority action focuses on the external environment located around people
which is a key determinant of their approach and choices which largely contribute to
health promotion. In this section, the nurse has a great role to play in the community to
ensure construction of a health environment that supports, encourages and provides
individuals with resources of improving their health status. The nurse is a mediator
between the communities since he or she connects diabetic people with schemes such
as National Diabetes Services which provide them with products related to diabetes as
well as financial support. From these schemes, the community can get information on
diabetes and other support services. This will greatly benefit individuals with diabetes
diagnosis (Malik, Blake & Suggs, 2014).
The nurse has a role in facilitating change in patterns of life, leisure and work of
the people by encouraging them to engage in activities or life styles habits which
promote good health as far as diabetes is concerned. The nurse as an educator has a
role enlighten people on health habits that prevent development of diabetes such as
nutritional modifications. Leisure and work are key determinants of individual health
(Malik, Blake & Suggs, 2014).).
Ottawa Charter Action Area 4: Building Health Public Policies.

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This action emphasizes on making health choices through implementation of
public policies that focuses on barriers of health and their removal. The policies enable
the community, families and individuals make alternative and healthy choices that are
essential in reducing risk of diabetes development. Some of these policies are provided
in health facilities. Therefore it is the responsibility of the nurse to educate people and
provide them lessons on physical activities. Consequently, this will be useful in
reduction of the risk of diabetes since age, health nutritional patterns and physical
activity are very key preventive measures of diabetes in communities (Gottwald &
Goodman-Brown, 2012).
Promotion of health goes beyond health care into the communities. Health
promotion makes health to be an important agenda of all policymakers in various levels
and sectors hence giving them direction on awareness of the health consequences
associated with their decisions and choices and make them accept the fact that they
responsible for their own health. Health promotion policies integrates both diverse and
complementary approaches which comprise of taxation, fiscal measures, legislation and
organizational change (Gottwald & Goodman-Brown, 2012).
In this scenario, the nurse acts as an advocate to foster equality in social habits
and health at large. Through this action, the nurse is a key contributor to ensuring
healthier and safer goods and services for all community members. The nurse ensures
provision of clean, healthier and enjoyable environments for all people hence preventing
development of health conditions such as diabetes. The nurse as an advocate of good
human health, has a responsibility of identifying some of the obstacles or hindrances
towards adoption of healthy policies and implement effective strategies of eliminating
the identified barriers (Kemppainen, Tossavainen & Turunen, 2013).
Ottawa Charter Action 5: Strengthening Community Action
This action enables the community and individuals to collaborate and work
together to ensure implementation of appropriate and effective strategies and priorities
for achievement of better health for everyone. The nurse is responsible for enhancing
encouragement and support among the community members by encouraging them to
participate in accessible health services for checkup hence ensuring good health.

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Community empowerment on control over their destinies and endeavors is the heart of
health promotion process. Community development attracts all existing material and
human resources hence enhancing social support and self-assistance, and
development of flexible systems that strengthen participation of the public in all health
matters. To enable this, consistent and full access to information is required in the
community. Therefore it is the role of the nurse to ensure information accessibility in the
community (McPhail-Bell, Fredericks & Brough, 2013).
Conclusion
Health promotion enables individuals and communities gain control over their
own health. The prerequisites for a good health include food, peace, shelter, education,
stable ecosystem, social equity and justice and income. Ottawa Charter highlights three
major strategies of health promotion. They include: enable, advocate and mediate. The
five major priority actions of health promotion outlined in the Ottawa Charter include:
development of personal skills, re-orientation of health services, creation of supportive
environment, strengthening of community actions and building of Health Public Policies.
Based on these actions and strategies, the nurse has a great role to play in
management of health illnesses or conditions such as diabetes.

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References
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failure to reduce health inequities. Sociology of health & illness, 36(2), 213-225.
Gottwald, M., & Goodman-Brown, J. (2012). A guide to practical health promotion.
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promotion practice: an integrative review. Health Promotion International, 28(4),
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MacDonald, T. H. (2012). Rethinking health promotion: a global approach. Routledge.
Malik, S. H., Blake, H., & Suggs, L. S. (2014). A systematic review of workplace health
promotion interventions for increasing physical activity. British journal of health
psychology, 19(1), 149-180. DOI: 10.1111/bjhp.12052
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Tones, K., Robinson, Y. K., & Tilford, S. (2013). Health education: effectiveness and
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