Healthy Settings

The World Bank

Healthy Settings, the settings-based approaches to health promotion, involve a holistic and multi-disciplinary method which integrates action across risk factors. The goal is to maximize disease prevention via a "whole system" approach. The settings approach has roots in the WHO Health for All strategy and, more specifically, the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. Healthy Settings key principles include community participation, partnership, empowerment and equity.

The Healthy Cities programme is the best-known example of a successful Healthy Settings programme. Initiated by WHO in 1986, Healthy Cities have spread rapidly across Europe and other parts of the world. Building on this experience, a number of parallel initiatives based on similar principles were established during the late 1980s and early 1990s within a number of smaller settings such as villages, schools, or hospitals.

This web site is the first step towards a comprehensive resource to support users of the Healthy Settings approaches for disease prevention and health promotion. It is the primary source of information for:

• Definition of Healthy Settings
• Types of Healthy Settings
• Activities in the WHO regions
• Selected intiatives
• News and events
• Publications