SCOPE & PURPOSE

2004 is the year of the first round of the enlargement of the European Union towards Eastern Europe. But the WHO European Region goes far beyond European Union borders, with Moscow being located rather in its geographical centre. So the HPH network has gladly accepted the invitation by the XXIst Century Hospital Foundation to host the 12th International Conference on HPH in the capital of the Russian Federation.

The ongoing transformation in the European region offers new opportunities, but also major challenges for health in Europe. The focus of the conference will be on two preconditions for using HPH to successfully cope with this development: Developing health systems by using health promotion concepts, models, experiences and networks will be the one, improving strategies for implementation and quality development of HPH on the hospital organisational level will be the second main issue.

The Scientific Committee also would like to highlight two specific issues:
•••• Health Promoting Hospitals as partners in the health care chain / network and in healthy alliances; and
•••• Investing in health for the future by promoting the health of children and youth.

	MAIN TOPICS

Positioning HPH in health care / health systems / health policy development

The development of HPH is necessarily influenced by conditions of health systems and health policy. But HPH has also a huge potential to contribute to the development of health systems:
•••• How and what can HPH contribute to the development of health care systems and increase the health gain of the population? And how can health care systems enhance the local implementation of HPH and the delivery of better health promotion in hospitals (e.g. by integrating health promotion into financial frameworks)?
•••• How can HPH position itself in today’s increasingly market-orientated health care systems?
•••• How can HPH contribute to make services better accessible for the poor, marginalized and disadvantaged groups?
•••• Which indicators can HPH contribute to systematic health reporting and monitoring of health system performance?

Effective implementation and quality development of HPH by strategies, standards and staff and patient education

Effective local implementation strategies are the other important precondition for more and better health for patients, staff, and community populations in and by Health Promoting Hospitals.
•••• How can hospital (quality) management support the local implementation of HPH (e.g. by integrating HPH in the hospital’s mission statement, by developing action plans, by systematic involvement of staff)?
•••• What measures and instruments can support the successful implementation of health promotion into daily hospital routines (HPH strategies, standards, and staff education)?
•••• Which indicators can be used and developed for measuring / monitoring processes and outcomes of measures, models and strategies within the framework of HPH?

	SPECIFIC TOPICS

Improving continuity of care & cooperation of HPH in healthy alliances

•••• Developing the quality of hospital services by improving continuity of care is one HPH strategy to achieve better health gain for patients. How can concepts, strategies and models of HPH be applied in order to enhance continuity of care in cooperation with other health care providers?
•••• Another contribution to improve the health of patients, but also of staff and the regional community population, is the strategic reorientation of hospitals. This refers to decisions about (new) HPH services, e.g. in cooperation with partners in healthy alliances. Questions are: Under which conditions are such alliances useful, and how can they be successfully organised? What models and experiences do exist?

Investing in health for the future: Promoting the health of children and adolescents

The concept of Health Promoting Hospitals focuses also on the middle and long term health outcomes of hospital interventions. In this context, health promotion for children and youth is a most important investment in health for the future.
•••• What can be done in order to better promote the health of children and youth in hospitals?
•••• What concepts, models, evidence and experiences do exist and can be applied to the hospital?

	PROGRAM ELEMENTS

Conference topics will be presented and discussed in keynote lectures and panels, paper sessions, workshops, action labs, and a poster session.

	TARGET GROUPS

The conference provides a forum for exchange and further development of knowledge and experiences for the following target groups:
•••• Health care professionals from the medical, nursing and therapeutic fields;
•••• Hospital and health care managers;
•••• Representatives from patient organisations and other NGOs;
•••• Representatives from health policy and health administration;
•••• Public health actors and experts;
•••• Health and health promotion scientists and practitioners; and
•••• Health care consultants.

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