Analysis of the Health Promotion Policy Discourse on the Governmental Level in the Czech Republic Since 1989
Abstract
The paper deals with the analysis of the historic development of the health promotion policy discourse on the level of conceptual documents in CR since 1989. Health promotion policy is a type of health policy, which defends a specific public interest of "enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health" [WHO, 1998].
The new epidemiological findings of the public health in eighties about the complexity of the determinants of the non-communicable chronic diseases (which became an increasing cause of death and disability) gave birth to the concept of health promotion [BEAGLEHOLE, 2006; HNILICOVÁ, 2007; HOLČÍK, 2010; KŘÍŽ, 2008]. The values, held by the politicians on the central level are supposed to be one of the factors, shaping the formulation and the actual implementation of the health promotion policy.
To reveal and discuss the different approaches to health promotion is currently a very important topic, taking into account the epidemiological situation and the ongoing discussions about financial sustainability of the provision of the health care services. Health promotion, reflecting it''s preventive character, is one of the possible alternative ways to the reduction of the future expenses for health care services.
The paper aims to answer the core question what kind of approaches to health, health care and health promotion could we identify in the former and ongoing policy discourse (from 1989-2010), produced on the governmental level?