CHARLOTTETOWN, Canada – The 6th Global Forum on Health Promotion, October 16-17 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, will highlight the strategies and achievements of communities, organizations and health promotion leaders working locally to achieve global impact. Organized by a team of international and Canadian health promotion organizations, including the Alliance for Health Promotion (Geneva), The Quaich (Charlottetown) and Groupe entreprises en santé (Montreal), the theme of the 6th Global Forum is Health Promotion ~ At the Very Heart of Sustainability.
Central to the 6th Global Forum’s programming are the five principles of the Ottawa Charter, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In 2015, world leaders at the UN Sustainable Development Summit adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by 2030. Although 15 years is a short time to achieve these goals, huge strides are being made through civil society initiatives in health promotion. And the impact is both local and global.
Gabriella Sozanski, coordinator with the Alliance, looks forward to welcoming international delegates in Charlottetown, alongside the Forum’s Canadian hosts: “The Global Forum is known for uniting community and government leaders, policy makers, researchers and practitioners from across sectors to share knowledge and build partnerships. Hosting the Forum in Canada in 2016 will bring a new dimension to our discussions and strengthen connections among health promotion leaders in Canada and abroad.”
Preliminary program highlights include keynote speaker Zsuzsanna Jakab from WHO Europe, as well as invited speakers who are trailblazers in the field of health promotion. Participants will take part in the creation of the PEI Declaration, a declaration calling for increased investment in health promotion to be submitted to the WHO’s 9th Global Conference on Health Promotion in Shanghai in November.
The 6th Global Forum is an initiative of the Alliance for Health Promotion, an NGO in official relations with the WHO that works to bridge the gap between international declarations and local realities. This is the first time the event is being held outside of Europe, and the Alliance is thrilled to be hosted by the Government of Prince Edward Island for the occasion, with PEI’s Department of Health and Wellness as an official sponsor.
