Implementation of the Bangkok Charter's health promotion strategies in Korean health promotion efforts at the municipality level

Abstract

To address effectively health determinants and challenges in the rapidly changing global context of the 21st century, the Bangkok Charter for Health Promotion was adopted at the Sixth Global Conference for Health Promotion in 2005. According to the Bangkok Charter, all sectors and settings of society are required to implement five strategies for health promotion: they must be advocates for health and health promotion, make strategic investments in their policies and programs, build capacity, regulate and enact appropriate legislation, and build partner alliances with other actors for health promotion. The purpose of this study is to assess the extent to which Korea has implemented the health promotion strategies of the Bangkok Charter. To facilitate more effective approaches to promote health in Korea, we sent survey questionnaires to 224 local public health centers throughout the country. We received responses from 384 professionals in 145 of these public health centers. Our analysis of these surveys indicates that basic concepts of health promotion as well as important approaches and health promotion strategies have not been effectively utilized in the Korean context. This is particularly true of efforts to regulate and legislate in the public health field, and to partner and build alliances for health promotion. Efforts in these areas have been inadequate and not given enough priority within the field as a whole. With a concerted effort to implement these strategies for health promotion in all sectors and all settings of Korean society, we can expect more effective interventions and approaches for promoting health and to achieve a higher level of overall societal health.