HealthPromotion.ie
Title
Health Promotion Unit : Ireland : Irish Health Promotion Unit
Description
Since its establishment in 1988 the Health Promotion Unit has been concerned on the one hand with policy development, research and evaluation, and on the other hand, with raising awareness of lifestyle issues through multi-media information campaigns and the development of materials for the public. Since the publication of the first Health Promotion Strategy in 1995, there has been an increased emphasis on the development of settings based interventions which seek to exploit the opportunities afforded by environments such as the school, the work place, the hospital and the community for a more co-ordinated, comprehensive and integrated approach to promoting health. There has also been a considerable emphasis on identifying key target population groups and developing interventions to meet their particular needs.
The Health Promotion Strategy 2000 - 2005 informs the direction and focus of our work in the Unit in addition to providing a resource and guide for all relevant stakeholders, both statutory and non-statutory, concerned with promoting positive health.
There have been many significant health promotion developments and achievements at a national and regional level since the publication of the first Strategy, Making the Healthier Choice the Easier Choice. These include the establishment of Health Promotion Departments within all health boards, led by senior managers and with dedicated budgets. We have also seen the publication of a range of strategy documents covering issues as diverse as workplace health, youth at risk, healthy ageing and a national alcohol policy. Baseline data was developed from the first nationally representative surveys on lifestyle practices the Survey of Lifestyle, Attitudes and Nutrition (SLAN, 1999) and Health, Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC, 1999). The Cardiovascular Health Strategy Building Healthier Hearts was published in 1999.
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