The Ottawa Charter

The first International Conference on Health Promotion, meeting in Ottawa this 21st day of November 1986, hereby presents this CHAR TER for action to achieve Health for All by the year 2000 and beyond. This conference was primarily a response to growing expectations for a new public health movement around the world. Discussions focused on the needs in industrialised coun tries, but took into account similar concerns in all other regions. It built on the progress made …

…living conditions and well-being; — to reorient health services and their resources towards the promotion of health; and to share power with other sectors, other disciplines and most importantly with people themselves; — to recognise health and its maintenance as a major social investment and challenge; and to address the overall ecological issue of our ways of living. The conference urges all concerned to join them in their commitment to a strong public health alliance.