健康教育／健康促進：典範或時尚？

Health education / health promotion, basically, is a paradigm which is utilized to assist the public to change their behavior, to maintain and promote their health, and, in advance, to upgrade their quality of life. In other words, health education / health promotion is not a fashion. In 1792, the hygiene courses were arranged for school students in Germany. The program was the beginning of health education in the world. After that, health education programs were developed and conducted in each country. In early 1970s, the movement of health promotion was developed rapidly. Health promotion programs include health education and integrate with organizational, political, economical, legal and environmental factors. Therefore, health education is one important component in health promotion profession. During the past years, the World Health Organization (WHO) had played an active, important role in implementing health education / health promotion programs. In 1978, the Alma-Ata Declaration was issued by the WHO with the objective of ”Health for All by the Year 2000”. The Declaration has become the prominent milestone for promoting the mankind's health. After that, the WHO has sponsored five international conferences on health promotion m 1986, 1988, 1991, 1997 and 2000, respectively. Those conferences, apparently, have reinforced the foundation and functions of health education / health promotion. In order to assist each country to implement health promotion and disease prevention programs effectively, the WHO issued a new document entitled ”Health for All in the 21st Century” in May 16, 1998. The document is the important force for the sustainable development of health education / health promotion. It is also the fundamental for health education / health promotion as a paradigm for the sake of promoting the mankind's health and upgrading their quality of life.