THE OTTAWA CHARTER AND CVD

The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion is a document that represents a global approach to health promotion by the World Health Organisation (WHO). It consists of fi e action areas. !. "e eloping Personal #$ills %. Creating #upporti e &n ironments '. #trengthening Community (ction ). *eorientating Health #er ices +. ,uilding Healthy Public Policy In Combating Cardio ascular "isease and increasing peoples awareness of the disease we ha e to ta$e into account all areas of the Ottawa Charter. Developing Personal Skills This in ol es allowing indi iduals to de elop their own personal and life s$ills through the use of information and resources. In gaining s$ills- informed decisions can be made in regard to health. Personal s$ills are needed in reducing the amount chance ris$ factors related to C." (such as smo$ing and obesity) and as result decreasing the burden on communities. #chools are a ma/or source of s$ill de elopment for most of (ustralia0s youth. "e eloping personal s$ills in regard to C." has been incorporated into all go ernment and non1go ernment schools through compulsory Personal "e elopment2 Health2 Physical &ducation (P"HP&) from 3indergarten through to year !4. This is put in place to educate children about health and the benefits that healthy eating and e5ercise ha e on indi iduals. (nother source of education in schools is the 6Happy Health Harold0 program- which tra els around to different schools across (ustralia and educates younger children on health issues in a fun and participati e way. This encourages them to de elop healthier lifestyle habits and empower them to grow into healthy adults. Creating Supportive Environments This area focuses on the places people li e- wor$ and play and trying to increase people0s ability- within these en ironments- to ma$e health promoting choices.. In relation to C."- local go ernments wor$ on creating supporti e en ironments through offering fitness programs to the public. The programs include things such as 6heart mo es0 and 6lifeball0- which focuses on older age groups getting acti e and impro ing heart function and o erall health. (lso- some businesses help by creating supporti e en ironments on a national le el. 7c"onalds is an e5ample of this as they ha e recently brought in a 6healthy choices0 option to offer an alternati e to the usual fast food a ailable at these types of outlets. This allows people to ha e access to a healthy alternati e. ,y creating en ironments that reflect healthy li ing practices it ma$es it easier for people to achie e good health. Strengthening Community Action This area is concerned with the public participation in establishing healthy patterns of li ing. There are a number of fun and participati e programs put in place across (ustralia. These focus on helping people become more aware of C." and raising money to help curati e and pre entati e measures relating to C.". These programs promote C." through e5ercise- and use this to oice e5ercise as a thing that can reduce the ris$ of de eloping the disease. These programs include 6City to #urf0- 6,i$e it 1 you0ll li$e it0 and 68ump rope for heart0. 6,i$e it you0ll li$e it0 is an initiati e of (shfield and 9eichhardt Councils in partnership with Central #ydney (rea Health #er ice e5tensi ely

promoting the health and personal benefits of cycling in local areas. People- pay a small fee to enter and this money goes to help C." sufferers. (ll of these programs wor$ on the same basis with City to surf promoting /ogging and 8ump rope for Heart promoting s$ipping. (side from these- strengthening community action can be done through things such as offering community1coo$ing classes to educate people on how to ta$e control o er their own health through coo$ing healthier meals. If people $now how to coo$ nutritious foods there is a great chance that they can reduce ris$ factors associated with C.". Reorientating Health Services *efers to utilising ser ices to pro ide promotion and curati e ser ices to e eryone. C." has the largest burden of morbidity and mortality in (ustralia and as a result the go ernment needs to adapt health ser ices in a way that promotes health- pre ents ill health and supports well1being. This is done through promoting regular chec$ ups through different ad ertisements. Often doctor0s surgery are littered with ad ertisements promoting indi iduals to participate in pre entati e and screening methods to ma$e sure they can monitor their own health. (n e5ample of this is free blood pressure chec$ ups at some doctor0s surgery. ,y offering this free ser ice people are able to become aware of C." ris$ factors. (lso if they ha e a ris$ factor associated with C."- such as high blood pressure- they can wor$ towards changing their beha iors to achie e better health. Building Healthy Public Policy This relates to the decisions made by the go ernment and other organisationsconcerning policies and legislation- to wor$ towards health impro ements. In relation to C."- there has been legislation put in place to help pre ent the ris$ factors associated with C.". These include the compulsory nutritional labeling of all food and non1smo$ing legislation. The nutritional labeling of food helps to pre ent C." by gi ing us the information we need to ma$e an informed decision. ,y doing this we are able to buy nutritious foods that in the long term will help decrease the ris$ of de eloping C.". :on1 #mo$ing legislation has appeared in public places such as restaurants- pubs and clubs. This legislation is put in place to reduce one of the main ris$ factors associated with C."- tobacco smo$ing. ,y implementing this legislation not only are the people who smo$e tobacco being helped in reducing C." but also the people who passi ely breathe in the smo$e in these areas. There are also a number of policies that focus on pre enting C.". One of these is the healthy canteen policy at schools. (ll schools ha e to be conscientious when purchasing food items for their canteen so that the school has healthy nutritious foods a ailable to their students. This policy helps to promote healthy eating amongst schoolchildren. (ll these action areas help to reduce the burden of Cardio ascular "isease by implementing a number of initiati es to help combat the ris$ factors associated with the disease. If all indi iduals ha e a go at participating in these initiati es and abiding by the laws set by go ernment bodies- (ustralia can e5pect to see significant decreases in the incidence and pre alence of Cardio ascular "isease.