The 20th International Conference on Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services (HPH) will be special for at least two reasons. First, with its location in Taipei, Taiwan, it will be the first ever HPH conference outside Europe and, by that, will set a clear landmark for the globalization of the HPH network which is now active in all continents. Second, with the 20th conference on HPH, time has come to look back on what HPH originally set out to do, what the network has achieved so far, and what challenges and changes for the future lie ahead.
Against this background, the Scientific Committee has decided to highlight five major topics for the scientific program of the HPH conference 2012:

 

Healthcare at a crossroad in a changing world: new demands for health care provision, health promotion and health systems design

The speed of global change is increasingly accelerating, confronting people, nation states and the planet as a whole with enormous challenges, some of them with considerable effects on the global burden of disease. We observe an increase of climate-change related diseases, including a return of infectious diseases, an increasing competition for access to scarce resources – including safe drinking water and nutrition – and, as a result, a growing risk for conflict and war, famine and other humanitarian catastrophes. Unhealthy lifestyles and the ageing of populations have led to an increase of non-communicable diseases, especially of cardiovascular diseases, cancers, respiratory and metabolic diseases and mental health problems. And there is increasing evidence for the huge impact of social and economic determinants of health, leading to an increasing health gap around the globe. How can health policy, health systems and health services adapt to the pressing needs that arise from these challenges?

 

Evidence for HPH related interventions: What do we know already, and what further research is needed?

Health promotion in healthcare is pressured to provide evidence for the interventions set. While health promotion in other settings uses and discusses different types of “evidence”, HPH strongly follows the notion of clinical evidence. This orientation favors evidence for person-oriented interventions, while potentially neglecting the impact of organizational, community and systems interventions. The conference shall discuss approaches, methods, indicators and needs for further research concerning evidence for the comprehensive HPH approach, including

• Evidence for the effectiveness, patient centredness and efficiency of patient interventions;
• Evidence for workplace health promotion;
• Evidence for health policy, health systems, setting and organizational interventions;
• Evidence for community interventions;
• Evidence for interventions to support environment-friendly health services.

 

Strengthening the public health agenda in health service development

Health services are still designed to primarily meet the acute health needs of the populations they serve. However, societal, economic and demographic changes increasingly bring about the need for a changed orientation of health services in terms of meeting today’s public health needs. The conference shall especially focus on the potential contributions of health promoting healthcare to

• Supporting ageing populations;
• Tackling the challenge of physical and mental NCDs;
• Addressing the increasing proportion of vulnerable citizens, including migrants and socially and economically disadvantaged population groups;
• Women and child health.

 

What capacities do Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services need to improve their contributions?

The capacity approach in health promotion draws the attention to the many necessary preconditions and resources that are needed on personal, organizational, community, systems and policy level for establishing and maintaining the reorientation of health services HPH has set out to achieve. The conference will discuss which capacities can make a difference and how they can be built up:

• Health policy and health systems: What national / regional capacities for health promotion, including funding schemes, payment design, and legal mandates, do make a difference?
• Communities: How can community awareness and public demand for health promotion services be created and maintained?
• Organizational capacities for HPH: What organizational structures and resources do HPH need to be able to operate successfully?
• Network capacities: How can networks support the establishment of capacities for HPH?

 

20 years of reorienting health services towards health promotion – achievements and outlook

After the launch of WHO’s Ottawa Charter (1986), which formulated the demand of reorienting health services as one of five action areas, conceptual developments on HPH began in 1988. The international HPH network was formally founded in 1990. In its history, HPH saw model and pilot hospital projects, the launch of international network media, the development of national and regional networks, the installment of international support centres and task forces, the development of tools, and the expansion from a European to a global network. The conference will reflect HPH achievements and future plans in Asia, America, Australia, Europe, and Africa.