Okuzeka
Public Health & Epidemiology vocabulary · Health Promotion and Behaviour

Health promotion

Meaning in public health & epidemiology, with examples

nounCore term

In public health & epidemiology, health promotion means: The process of enabling people and communities to increase control over their health and improve it, through education, supportive environments, healthy policies and community action.

In Turkish: sağlığın geliştirilmesi, sağlığın teşviki

How it is used

The idea was shaped by WHO's Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (1986). It covers much more than leaflets: workplace wellness schemes, smoke-free laws and healthy school meals all count. You work in, plan or deliver health promotion.

Example sentences

  1. The city's health promotion team runs walking groups in every district.

  2. Schools are one of the best settings for health promotion.

Common collocations

  • health promotion campaign
  • health promotion programme
  • workplace health promotion
  • health promotion specialist
  • health educationPlanned learning activities that give people the knowledge, skills and motivation to make healthier choices, for example lessons, workshops, counselling or leaflets.
  • behaviour changeThe process of people adopting healthier habits or giving up harmful ones, and the methods used to help them, such as information, support, incentives and changes to their surroundings.
  • health literacyThe ability to find, understand, judge and use health information to make decisions about one's own health and health care.
  • community engagementWorking with communities as partners, so that local people help to identify problems and plan, deliver and evaluate the health programmes that affect them.
  • primary preventionAction taken to stop a disease or injury from happening at all, for example vaccination, seat belt laws or reducing the salt in processed food.

More terms: Health Promotion and Behaviour

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level:

This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.