Global, News
HPF caught up with public health physician and leading authority on planetary health and health promotion, Professor Anthony Capon to get his views on a wide range of issues including the link between environmental health and COVID-19 Q: First of all we’d like to congratulate you on your appointment as Director of the Monash Sustainable Development Institute (MSDI). You were Professor of Planetary Health in the School of Public Health at Sydney University for a number of years. What motivated you to take up this new role and can you tell us a bit about what it entails? A: I was attracted to MSDI because it’s a leading academic institute focused on sustainable development, with more than 100 staff from a wide range of disciplines and a lively cohort of graduate research students. MSDI was established more than 10 years ago and hosts the Australia, New Zealand and Pacific hub for the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). MSDI is different to conventional academic institutes because it is focused on impact. We don’t just describe problems. We work with partners on solutions. It’s worth mentioning that as well as directing MSDI, I also hold a chair of planetary health in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash. Q: You were one of the plenary speakers at the global health promotion conference in Rotorua last April where you spoke on Planetary Health: Promoting health in the Anthropocene. What were some of the highlights of the conference for you? A: The IUHPE world conference is always a terrific event. It’s a marvellous opportunity to connect with health promotion colleagues from around the world, to share experiences and learn together. For me, the highlight of Waiora—the 23rd of these conferences—was the focus on indigenous knowledge in health promotion. Planetary health may be a new concept in health promotion policy and research, however it is not a new concept for indigenous people. For indigenous people the connections between human health and the health of country are central spiritual foundations and deeply embedded in cultural practices. More generally, it was terrific that the conference organisers chose the theme of Promoting Planetary Health and Sustainable Development for All. The nexus between health promotion and sustainable development warrants much greater attention in our health promotion programs. Q: You spoke at the conference about how you hoped many would want to learn more about Maori understanding of health and wellbeing and broad indigenous understandings. Does your Ngāi Tahu (South Island) heritage give you more appreciation of this? Do you think enough is being done around the world to promote indigenous knowledge? A: Certainly, it was a great privilege to grow up as a member of a Ngāi Tahu family in the Catlins. I fondly recall my childhood on a sheep farm outside Owaka in south Otago. My great grandmother, Mary Brown, imbued me with an enduring respect for Mother Nature which continues to guide my work and everyday practices. New Zealand provides a really positive example for the world in valuing indigenous ways of knowing. However, we definitely need to do more in this space, particularly in countries like Australia where I was raised and subsequently trained in health promotion. Q: We all know countries like the UK, US and Japan are historically responsible for most of the greenhouse emissions in the world, but closer to home, Australia’s per capita carbon dioxide footprint is now one of the highest in the world. NZ’s greenhouse gas emissions rose by 2.2% in 2017 from the previous year. Do you think these countries are doing enough to reduce their CO2 emissions and if not what more can be done? A: Indeed, all high income countries need to do more. My current home country, Australia, in particular, must do more. If all people in the world lived as Australians do, we would need five planets—not one, but five. It is clearly not sustainable, nor fair. As a wealthy country, Australia should also urgently transition from its reliance on coal for a large part of its export income. In addition to health impacts of climate change, globally more than 400,000 premature deaths each year are attributable to the toxic pollution from coal burning. As well as reducing our own carbon footprint, Australia, and other high income countries, should be supporting urgent transitions to healthy and sustainable development pathways in low and middle income countries. Q: Looking at the way the world has been heading since the industrial revolutions one could be forgiven for thinking it’s all doom and gloom. But there is a rising consciousness and determination, evidenced by worldwide protests recently, to set the planet back on the right track. Does this wave of action, especially from younger generations, give you optimism for our future generations? A: It is terrific to see young people speaking out about these important global environmental challenges. Young people learn about these issues at school because it is now a core part of the curriculum. Notably, many of our elected officials—often from an older generation—did not have the opportunity to learn about these issues at school and this may help to explain why sometimes they deny their importance. Of course, vested interests in business as usual is also part of the problem. While the urgency for action is clear, I do remain hopeful that we can come together and act in the interest of the wellbeing of future generations. This is the core ambition of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Q: You are one of the few public health physicians in Australia who trained in health promotion. Your message for health promoters is that there is a need to bring planetary consciousness to health promotion education, research, policy and practice. Please can you elaborate more on this, and give some examples of how health promoters can achieve this? A: In health promotion, we know the importance of behavioural risk factors. We also know the importance of health literacy and of social determinants of health. However, we’ve seemingly forgotten that human health entirely depends on the health of natural systems. Indigenous ways of knowing about health are relevant again here. In health promotion, we need a paradigm shift to eco-social understandings of health—an integrative approach to health promotion that acknowledges ecological, economic and social foundations of health. In essence, we need to be ‘conscious’ of the planetary in all of our work. Q: Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic is currently sweeping across the world. Should planetary health understanding feature in our responses to this pandemic? A: The bottom line is that the COVID-19 pandemic is a planetary health issue. There is mounting research evidence that the emergence of infectious diseases (e.g. SARS, Ebola and Zika) is being enabled by environmental change, including changing climatic conditions, loss of biodiversity, urbanisation and ecosystem degradation. These environmental changes are providing new opportunities for contact between animals and people with potential for transmission of infectious agents. In this context, while it is entirely appropriately that health systems are currently focused on provision of health care to patients and interventions to prevent human to human transmission (including social distancing and vaccine development), it’s also important we look upstream and invest in tackling the underlying causes of the problem through biodiversity conservation and stabilising the climate. This will help avoid transmission of diseases from animals to humans in the first place.Global, News
A wide-ranging UN climate report released yesterday (March 10) shows that climate change is having a major effect on all aspects of the environment as well as on the health and wellbeing of the global population. The report, The WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2019, which is led by the UN weather agency (World Meteorological Organization), contains data from an extensive network of partners. It documents physical signs of climate change – such as increasing land and ocean heat, accelerating sea level rise and melting ice – and the knock-on effects on socio-economic development, human health, migration and displacement, food security, and land and marine ecosystems. Writing in the foreword to the report, UN chief António Guterres warned that the world is currently “way off track meeting either the 1.5°C or 2°C targets that the Paris Agreement calls for”, referring to the commitment made by the international community in 2015, to keep global average temperatures well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Australian wildfires spark global CO2 increase Several heat records have been broken in recent years and decades: the report confirms that 2019 was the second warmest year on record, and 2010-2019 was the warmest decade on record. Since the 1980s, each successive decade has been warmer than any preceding decade since 1850. Ongoing warming in Antarctica saw large-scale ice melt and the fracturing of a glacier, with repercussions for sea level rise, and carbon dioxide emissions spiked following the devastating Australian bushfires, which spread smoke and pollutants around the world. The warmest year so far was 2016, but that could be topped soon, said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas. “Given that greenhouse gas levels continue to increase, the warming will continue. A recent decadal forecast indicates that a new annual global temperature record is likely in the next five years. It is a matter of time.” The widespread impacts of ocean warming Greenhouse gas emissions continued to grow in 2019, leading to increased ocean heat, and such phenomena as rising sea levels, the altering of ocean currents, melting floating ice shelves, and dramatic changes in marine ecosystems. The ocean has seen increased acidification and deoxygenation, with negative impacts on marine life, and the wellbeing of people who depend on ocean ecosystems. At the poles, sea ice continues to decline, and glaciers shrunk yet again, for the 32nd consecutive year. Unprecedented floods and droughts In 2019, extreme weather events, some of which were unprecedented in scale, took place in many parts of the world. The monsoon season saw rainfall above the long-term average in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar, and flooding led to the loss of some 2200 lives in the region. Parts of South America were hit by floods in January, whilst Iran was badly affected in late March and early April. In the US, total economic losses from flooding were estimated at around $20 billion. Other regions suffered a severe lack of water. Australia has its driest year on record, and Southern Africa, Central America and parts of South America received abnormally low rains. Last year also saw an above-average number of tropical cyclones, with 72 in the northern hemisphere, and 27 in the southern hemisphere. The human cost The changing climate is exerting a toll on the health of the global population: the reports shows that in 2019, record high temperatures led to more than 100 deaths in Japan, and 1462 deaths in France. Dengue virus increased in 2019, due to higher temperatures, which have been making it easier for mosquitos to transmit the disease over several decades. Following years of steady decline, hunger is again on the rise, driven by a changing climate and extreme weather events. Worldwide, some 6.7 million people were displaced from their homes due to natural hazards – in particular storms and floods, such as the many devastating cyclones, and flooding in Iran, the Philippines and Ethiopia. The report forecasts an internal displacement figure of around 22 million people throughout the whole of 2019, up from 17.2 million in 2018. COP26: time to aim high In an interview with UN News, Mr Taalas said there is a growing understanding across society, from the finance sector to young people, that climate change is the number one problem mankind is facing today, “so there are plenty of good signs that we have started moving in the right direction”. “Last year emissions dropped in developed countries, despite the growing economy, so we have been to show that you can detach economic growth from emission growth. The bad news is that, in the rest of the world, emissions grew last year. So, if we want to solve this problem, we have to have all the countries on board”. Speaking at the launch of the report on Tuesday at UN Headquarters in New York Mr Guterreson said “we have to aim high” at the 2020 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), which will be held in the Scottish City in November. The UN chief called on all countries to demonstrate that emission cuts of 45 per cent from 2010 levels are possible this decade, and that net-zero emissions will be achieved by the middle of the century. Four priorities for COP26 were outlined by Mr Guterres: more ambitious national climate plans that will keep global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels; strategies to reach net zero emissions by 2050; a comprehensive programme of support for climate adaptation and resilience; and financing for a sustainable, green economy.(UN News)
Global, News, Newsletter
International health promotion leader Dr Trevor Hancock has helped put health on the agenda of thousands of cities and towns around the world.
Dr Hancock was a plenary speaker at the 23rd International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) World Health Promotion Conference in Rotorua from April 7 – 11, 2019. Although recently retired from his position as a Professor and Senior Scholar at the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria he’s as busy as ever as he shares with us from his home in Canada about keeping the Healthy Cities Movement “moving”, plans for broadening, deepening and connecting the “Conversations for a One Planet Region” and about some spin-off projects in the works.
Hauora: Trevor you are one of the founders of the (now global) Healthy Cities and Communities movement? Can you please tell us what prompted you to launch this movement, what its aims are and what has been achieved so far?

TH: Well, I didn’t exactly launch the movement, but I did help pioneer it. I trained in medicine in the late 1960s/early 1970s in London and then spent four years in family practice in Canada. The last two years were in a community health centre in Toronto, where we served a somewhat under-privileged community. It was clear to me that many of the health problems my patients experienced were economic, social and environmental problems, not really medical problems, which cemented my interest in public health, so I did a Masters at the U of Toronto, graduating in 1980.
You can’t do public health without becoming keenly aware of the roots of modern-day public health in the struggle to address the terrible living and working conditions in the towns of the industrialising world in the 19th century, and to the stories of John Snow, Edwin Chadwick and other leaders. One of those leaders I found particularly inspiring was Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, a self-professed ‘disciple’ of Chadwick. In 1875 he gave an inspirational address to the Social Science Association on “Hygeia: A City of Health”, which is still well worth reading.
So when I started work as the Health Planner for the City of Toronto in the Department of Public Health’s new Health Advocacy Unit in 1980 , I had this work in mind. One of my tasks was to create a mission statement for the Department, and we adopted the following: Our mission is to help to make the City of Toronto the healthiest city in North America”. Note we said ‘help to’ – health is not created by a public health department any more than it is created by the health care system; we recognised that many other City departments – and many other players outside City government – contibuted a great deal to the health of the city’s people, starting with clean water, sanitation, safe and healthy buildings and so on.
So we started to ask ourselves’what exactly is a healthy city, how would we get one, and how would we know we were one?’. As you can imagine, that led to a great deal of discussion and innovation. Luckily, as it happened – and never discount luck as a factor, but when you have it, exploit it! – 1984 was a banner year – the sesqui-centennial of the City, the centenary of the Board of Health, the 75th anniversary of the Canadian Public Health Association and the tenth anniversary of the Lalonde Report. This made it possible for me – working with a great conference committee – to put on ‘Beyond Health Care’, an international working conference on healthy public policy, a term, but not a concept, I had created in about 1980, inspired by the work of people like Nancy Milio and Peter Draper.
As part of the conference, we had a theme on healthy cities, but also – because it was after all a Toronto-based conference – we had a day we called ‘Healthy Toronto 2000’, looking at what it would take to make Toronto a healthy city by then. One of the keynote speakers was Len Duhl, a professor of public health and urban planning at Berkely, and one of the attendees was Ilona Kickbusch, then the Health Promotion Officer for WHO Europe and already working closely with Ron Draper at Health Canada -who had invited her – on what was to become two years later the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion.
Ilona brilliantly saw in the idea of a healthy city a way to take the concepts of health promotion out into the city and make them real, and thus was born the WHO Europe Healthy Cities initiative, which had its first planning meeting in Copenhagen (WHO Europe’s HQ) in early 1986. Len Duhl and I were part of the planning committee, and together wrote the original background paper – and the rest is history!
As to the aims and achievements, they are quite simple: To put health on the agenda of city governments and governance processes, and to help cities plan with health in mind as a key objective. In that, I think we have been highly successful, the idea has been taken up – with varying degrees of success – in cities, towns and villages around the world – inevitably, with varying degrees of success.
But I think the key word here is ‘movement’. There is, inevitably, a wish to evaluate the work, but its rather like evaluating the women’s movement, the labour movement, the peace movement or the environment movement. They are always working, always pushing, and they have their succeses and failures, but they just keep going; that is what a healthy cities movement must do too.
Hauora: One of the challenges you point out for the 21st century is that we’re going to have to look at dramatically different ways of organising our cities, our countries, our neighbourhoods, our own personal ways of life etc…What progress are we making on this and how big a role can health promoters play?
TH: There are many parts to this question – or questions. For me, the central question for cities – and for governments at all levels – is ‘what business are we in?’. If you ask that of national governments the answer you get – if not in their words, at least in their deeds – is ‘grow the economy/the GDP’. (New Zealand has recently proved itself the exception, with a budget focused on wellbeing.)But this focus on economic growth and the GDP has been a tragic mistake, especially for high-income countries. First, that growth has resulted in the massive and rapid extraction and depletion of the Earth’s natural resources, in particular forests, fisheries, wildlife, freshwater, topsoils, minerals and fossil fuels. That extraction has been accompanied by massive and rapid pollution of the air, water, soils and food chains, with perhaps the most worrying – at least right now – being CO2 pollution from fossil fuel combustion, leading to the global climate emergency.
“… this focus on economic growth and the GDP has been a tragic mistake, especially for high-income countries.”
Also, some, perhaps much of that growth is what Herman Daly, a leading ecological economist, has called ‘Uneconomic growth’; economic activity that harms people, communities or the planet – or all three. Yet all this uneconomic growth is included in the GDP, which does not distingish between good and bad economic activity. In the health field, the most obvious example is tobacco production and use (although we could also include production of unhealthy food, alcohol, etc.) which kills millions and maims millions more. Even worse, all the money spent on health care for people with tobacco-caused or diet-caused disease also adds to GDP; how stupid is that?
What’s more, this economic growth does not improve our lives, even if it gets us more ‘stuff’. We know that above about $20,000 GDP per capita, further increases in GDP do not correlate well, if at all, with life expectancy and other health and social outcomes. In The Spirit Level, Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson show that in high-income countries, it is the degree of equity, not the level of wealth, that correlates with these outcomes, while the World Happiness Report and other studies show that GDP is not well correlated with happiness.
As a result, further aggregate growth is impossible, we already exceed the Earth’s biocapacity and need to reduce our use of these ecosystem goods and services – quite drastically in the high-income countries, whose ecological footprints are well above our fair share, in the range of 3 to 5 planet’s’ worth of biocapacity. Meanwhile, low income countries have the opposite problem; they do not have the wealth it takes to achieve high levels of human and social development.
We need to take less so that others in need can have more, which means a redistribtion of power, wealth and resources both between and within countries and communities, as called for by the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health.
All of this leads to the conclusion of Kate Raworth in her book Doughnut Economics: we need an economy that is ecologically restorative and socially just, that is focused on meeting the social needs of everyone while living within planetary limits. And that means a very different set of values to live by, very different communities and societies to those we have today. I have an abiding faith that this can only happen from the local level up, it will not come down from the top, where elites have too much money and power at stake. Progress on this is slow, but it is happening, as I will discuss shortly.
But what can health promoters do?
- First, learn about the global challenges of the Anthropocene – the new age of humanity as a dominant global force that I discuss below – and what new approaches and solutions we need. Recognise that this calls for an eco-social approach in all our work and all our communities.
- Second, discuss it with your colleagues, your families and friends, your clients and communities.
- Third, work to create it, identifying allies and partners who are working to create this new world – especially young people (think of the climate strikers), environmentalists and the new social/green entrepreneurs who are working to create the new economy we need.
- Fourth, apply the two fundamental principles of public health that I identified 40 years ago: Ecological sanity and social justice (today we would say sustainability and equity), ideas that directly relate to Kate Raworth’s call for an economy thast is both restorative and distributive.
- Finally, never lose sight of Margaret Mead’s wise words: “Never believe a small group of people cannot change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has changed the world”.
One final point: We are not simply health promoters, more importantly we are citizens. So if we can make it part of the work we do, that is definitely a bonus. But if not, we did not surrender our citizenship when we took on our professional roles. So take it on as a family, a citizen activist, a school parent, a club member or a faith community member or whatever other social role makes sense. Find your allies and work with them. Or simply change the way you live, in big or small ways. It all matters, it all makes a difference.
Hauora: You have said one thing that is important to understand about the Anthropocene is that it’s just not about climate change and we need to look at the bigger picture? Can you please elaborate on this?
TH: The Anthropocene is a new geologic epoch, identified in geological terms as a layer of new materials (e.g. glass, plastic, concrete, radioactive elements and their decay products, elevated CO2 levels) and a change in future fossil deposits (e.g. wild animals now make up only 4% of the mass of land vertebrates, with humans (anthropos in Ancient Greek) and their domesticated species making up the rest) that will be clearly seen as anthropogenic – caused by humans – by future geologists.
In May 2019 the Anthropocene Working Group of the International Commission on Stratigraphy voted strongly to recommend it be recognised, with a start date in the mid-20th century. This corresponds to what has been called ‘The Great Acceleration’; a sharp acceleration, especially since 1950, in changes in a wide variety of natural systems (e.g. climate, nitrogen and phosphorus flows, species extinctions etc. ), in turn driven by a similar sharp increase in socio-economic forces (e.g. population – especially urban population, global GDP, fertiliser-use, fish catch etc.).
So the Anthropocene needs to be understood not only as a geological phenomenon, but one that reflects and indeed records global ecological changes that in turn are driven by economic and social development.
In the 2015 report I led for the Canadian Public Health Association on the ecological determinants of health, we made two key points:
- First, the world’s natural systems are our life support systems, the most fundamental determinants of our health; we do not last long without air, water or food. Nor can societies exist without the materials and fuels we take from nature, the recycling of nutrients and wastes is the protection from UV radiation that all come from nature. Moreover, for the past 11,000 years we have benefited from a generally benign, warm and stable climate during which agriculture and cities – what we think of as civilisation – have developed.
- Second, all of these ecosystem goods and services are being massively and rapidly disrupted, and all at the same time. It is not just climate change, but ocean acidification, pollution and ecotoxicity, resource depletion and the start of a sixth Great Extinction. Moreover, they often interact and reinforce each other, usually in negative ways.
Faced with these widespread, rapid and massive changes, we need widespread, rapid and massive responses; again, my belief is that these are much more likely to come up from the bottom than down from the top. Tobacco control is but one of many examples where it has been persistent grassroots activism and local leadership that has ultimately led to signifant national and international change; the same can be said of gay marriage.
But I am also very conscious of the fact that when it comes to creating social and cultural transformation and large value shifts, this is not done simply by applying science, evidence and logic. We need to reach people emotionally and spiritually as human beings, what I call ‘heart, gut and spirit stuff’, and for that we need to work with faith communities, the arts community and other ‘unusual suspects’.
Hauora: In Victoria British Colombia where you live you started what is called “Conversations for a one planet region”. What is the aim of this initiative and how many countries has it spread to? Can you give us some tips on how to get it started in NZ?
TH: The Conversations came out of an initiative I started at the University of Victoria (UVic) before I retired. UVic in the Anthropocene is an attempt to bring together faculty and students from all disciplines across the university to address the challenge of the Anthropocene. In my opinion, this is the greatest threat facing us in the 21st century, but it also contains many opportunities. So how will universities respond (so far, no better than governments or other instituons, which is to say hardly at all!)
We realised early on that we needed to do work with the community, in this region of 350,00 people and 13 local municipalities, to explore what should be the response to the Anthropocene at the local level. We suggested the concept of a One Planet Region as a way to address this locally (an idea we later learned had been pioneered by Bioregional in the UK, a group we now work with). We defined a One Planet Region as one that achieves social and ecological sustainability, with a high quality of life and a long life in good health for all its citizens, while reducing its ecological footprint to be equivalent to one planet’s worth of biocapacity.
We started the Conversations in early 2017 because we were concerned that people were not even talking about this issue; climate change, yes, but not the entire complex of global ecological changes that constitute the Anthropocene, and not about how we need to respond locally. So our mission is to establish and maintain community-wide conversations on One Planet living and a One Planet Region. We adopted as our slogan “Learn – Discuss – Imagine – Design – Create”, because if we are not learning about the situation we face and discussing it, we can’t begin to fully imagine both the future we face and the alternative future we want. And if we can’t imagine it, we can’t design and create it.
We meet monthly in the Community Room at the Central Branch of the Public Library. Our meetings are free and open to anyone, and we have no budget; use only local volunteer speakers – since we know we have the knowledge and expertise here to address these issues successfully. We cover a wide range of issues, from energy and food to housing and transportation, economics, the role of the arts and of faith communities – and much else.
But while we have been doing this for three years, have a group of 30 – 70 people each month, get good discussions and have a good reputation and some influence and local political impact, we recognise that this is of limited utility. Our participants are generally the ‘usual suspects’ – older, whiter, wealthier, better educated, and living near the downtown. An important and potentially influential group, to be sure, often with good connections to important people and groups, but far from enough.
So we have plans for broadening, deepening and connecting the Conversation. We want to expand the Conversation to engage a much wider range of participants, both geographically and demographically; deepen the Conversation by creating safe spaces where people can explore the mental, social and spiritual dimensions of the change we seek; and connect the Conversation to others doing similar work across the region. To that end, we have recently incorporated as a non-profit society so we can pursue funding, because while having no budegt is in many ways commendable, it is also limiting. Some of the new activities we want to pursue are:
- Video, webcast and livestream the current Conversations programme, enabling people in other sites in the Greater Victoria Region to join in from where they live.
- Establish a Kitchen Table Conversations programme to facilitate and support families, neighbors, workmates and others to have smaller, more personal Conversations.
- Undertake One Planet Neighborhood Co-design Charettes that bring community members and design professionals together to imagine and design such a place.
- Establish People for a One Planet Region, a group of citizens in every municipality who are able to speak at Council meetings to support the One Planet approach and to oppose proposals that take us in the wrong direction.
- [Perhaps] create One Planet Region Awards to recognise people, organisations, businesses and governments that are working to create a One Planet region.
We also have several spin-off projects that we are pursuing, in collaboration with others:
- We are working with the Community Social Planning Council to look at the social justice and employment implications of a One Planet Region.
- We are starting a discussion about an initiative around art, nature and place as a way of engaging people through the arts in considering the global ecological challenges, and possible actions.
- An ecological economics group is forming, linked to the Green New Deal, looking at what an ecological economy would look like locally.
- We are planning sessions based on Joanna Macy’s “The work that re-connects”, to help people come to terms with the climate anxiety and eco-grief they may be experiencing.
I hope this has given you some ideas, but remember, it takes very little to make things happen. You don’t need a budget, an organisation or staff, just some willing and like-minded people, a bit of energy and good will. Remember Margaret Mead’s wise words and just do it!
Hauora: You were in NZ for the 23rd IUHPE World Health Promotion Conference, co-hosted by HPF in Rotorua last April? What were some of the highlights of the conference for you?
TH: The first highlight was the fact that the greetings from the Maori Elders were all in Maori! Oh sorry, you don’t understand Maori? Too bad, this is Aotearoa and here we speak Maori – it was assertive and yet was done in a respectful way. I loved the self-confidence of that, and indeed the strong participation of Maori people throughout was an inspiration.
Second, of course, the fact that ecological change and the need for an ecological awaresss was finally getting the attention it deserves in health promotion.
Third, shmoozing! Not only do I love seeing my friends from all over the world (and yes, I am aware of the irony, if not ineed the incompatability, of the carbon footprint involved), but those personal contacts facilitate the sharing of ideas, work and commitments for years to come. There is a lot you can do apart, via Skype and webinars and teleconferences, but there is an energy that comes from being together in the same place, sharing food and drink and relaxation, that boosts your energy and enthusiasm when you return home.
Fourth, of course, New Zealand itself, a beautiful country I have now visited twice, with friendly and welcoming people, certain challenges notwithstanding. Certainly the New Zealand government is proving inspirational, both in its response to the Christchurch mosque shootings and in its commitment to a wellbeing budget.
Hauora: You retired in July 2018 from your position as a Professor and Senior Scholar at the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria. What have you been doing since then and what are your plans for the future?
Well, I only retired from a job, not from life or work – or dancing for that matter! I have been busy organising the Conversations – as noted above, writing, speaking at all levels from global events such as IUHPE to local community groups about these ideas and generally being an activist. I am very excited by the growing activism of young people and looking for ways I can help and support them – without taking over or getting in the way!
In particular, I hope to write several books for the general public about the work of public health. I have been writing a weekly column on population and public health issues for five years (see https://trevorhancock.org/) and I have come to recognise that we do a lousy job of communicating what we do, and the importance of our work – and then we wonder why nobody knows about us or loves us or funds us! So, I have committed to do no more writing for academic or professional journls or books, other than the commitments I already have.
And of course I am dancing. I have been a Morris dancer for 40 years – traditional English folk dance, think non-violent rugby involving dancing, singing and drinking! It brings me great pleasure, even joy, and is an antidote to the serious nature of so much of my life – although that too is fun, it has to be if you are to keep doing it.
I dance twice a week, walk our dog in the woods, parks and coastlands every day with Franny, my wife and companion for almost 50 years (her retirement project is a Masters in Medieval Studies, we are well matched) and generally stay active. In one of the two Morris sides I dance with I am, at 71, the second youngest dancer; our oldest dancer is almost 95, and comes to practice every week and then to the pub. I intend to be Fred when I grow up!
© Trevor Hancock, 2019
Global, News, What is HP
With HPF’s online courses you can study at your own pace and time and from anywhere in the world.
If you are already working in the field of health promotion or public health, these courses will further enhance your knowledge and skills. The courses are also designed to enable those who are new to health promotion and public health to learn new knowledge and skills.
“We are responding to the need of the health promoters and other health and social service workers, by taking the knowledge to them through technology,” says HPF Executive Director Sione Tu’itahi.
“Learners can always contact our health promotion team for questions and discussion, if they need to.”
The courses are on Maori health promotion, Pasifika health promotion, and mainstream health promotion. All are at level one but future courses in the three categories will be designed for level two and level three.
You can use this link to navigate to the courses: https://www.onlinecpd.co.nz/course-providers/hauora/
Community, Environment, Global, Uncategorized
HPF’s Executive Director Sione Tu’itahi talks to Hauora about the outcomes, goals and lasting impact of the global Health Promotion Forum conference in Rotorua from April 7-11, 2019
Last April the Health Promotion Forum co-hosted the 23rd International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) World Conference on Health Promotion in Rotorua. With a timely theme of ‘Hauora: Promoting Planetary Health and Sustainable Development for All’, more than a 1000 delegates and organisations from 73 countries participated.
H: There has been very positive feedback about the conference. Are you happy with the results, and did you achieve the outcomes you set?

ST: Yes, I am happy to say we achieved our three major outcomes, and more. The knowledge that was exchanged was very relevant, crucial and very timely for the needs of health promotion, and the world today. Health promoters and other health workers, as well as those who work in sustainable development enhanced existing networks and formed new ones. And the legacy initiatives of two legacy statements, and initiating the process for a healthy city, were also achieved.
H: Let’s talk more about those outcomes in details. What is some of the relevant knowledge shared?
ST: Among other important features, at least three major areas emerged and moved closer together, offering comprehensive knowledge and practical tools for the delegates to take home and implement on addressing the health of the planet and its peoples. These were the social determinants of health with an equity and social justice approach, planetary health and ecological determinants with an eco-social approach and an inter-generational understanding and goal for health and wellbeing, and indigenous knowledge and health promotion with a clear philosophy and practice that humans are inseparable from the ecology. On another level, the spiritual dimension of wellbeing, and spiritual health promotion also came to the fore during the conference. It was great to see these major areas of health knowledge coming together, offering a profound understanding on planetary health, and relevant, practical tools.
What was significant was that the presenters in all these areas of knowledge were complementary in their addresses, presenting a balanced, and comprehensive big picture of where the health of the planet and its peoples are at, and the comprehensive set of strategies to address those challenges at all levels.
H: What else was significant about the knowledge shared at the conference?
ST: Two other significant contents of the conference were the leading contributions of Maori research, policy, practice and leadership to Indigenous health promotion, and how pronounced climate change and ecological challenges are in our Pacific region. In fact, we decided to host the conference here in order for our New Zealand knowledge and experience to be shared with the world, and for the world to understand our greater Pacific region and its challenges, as well as our collective effort to address those challenges. For example, 20 years after introducing Te Pae Mahutonga as a health promotion model for New Zealand, Sir Mason Durie presented a new model, Matariki, at the conference for Indigenous peoples. Tuhoe Nation Leader Tamati Kruger shared the challenging but progressive and resilient journey of his tribe from the ravages of colonisation to mana motu hake/autonomy today. Delegates were in awe at such profound knowledge and courageous, moral leadership.
H: You mentioned some legacy initiatives. What are they?
ST: There were three legacy initiatives: two legacy statements, and Rotorua to become a healthy city under the WHO (World Health Organization) scheme of the same name. Led by two editorial teams, the conference delegates drafted and approved by acclamation the two statements on the final day. The first statement is the Rotorua Statement which summarises the important themes and knowledge that emerged from the conference, calling for action on those crucial areas for the health and wellbeing of the planet and its peoples. The second statement is the Waiora Indigenous Peoples Statement. It outlines the loss of Indigenous peoples under colonisation around the world, and calls for privileging indigenous knowledge as a right, and articulates how Indigenous health promotion can contribute to addressing the challenges on planetary health. On the healthy initiative, Rotorua’s mayor Steve Chadwick agreed to explore with us how Rotorua can become a ‘healthy city’ under the WHO’s scheme of the same name. Rotorua can be the model for other cities. All social, economic, cultural and ecological challenges, health included, are related, and cities are a manageable setting where these challenges can be addressed in a well-coordinated and effective way. The vision is for our cities to become healthy, liveable and sustainable.
H: So, it was not just a talkfest?
ST: No, certainly not. You can watch the videos of those keynote speakers on the IUHPE and HPF YouTube channels. Maori equity and social justice were articulated by the likes of Sir Michael Marmot and Fran Baum, indigenous health promotion was clearly embedded by the addresses by Sir Mason Durie, Tamati Kruger of Tuhoe Nation, Dame Anne Salmond, and Professor Anthony Capon. Professor Capon and Professor Trevor Hancock also highlighted planetary health, ecological determinants and the eco-social approach.
H: What lessons have you learned as a result of hosting the conference?
ST: Quite a few. One is that our nation’s founding document, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, was very effective as a framework for negotiating the terms of the conference and for co-hosting it with the International Union for Health Promotion and Education. Using Te Tiriti enables us to work as equal partners, sharing our knowledge and experience, and achieving outcomes agreed on, such as the theme of the conference where we highlight Indigenous knowledge, having Te Reo Maori as one of the four languages of the conference.
Global, Maori, Maori health promotion
Twenty years after introducing “Te Pae Mahutonga” as a framework for health promotion in New Zealand at an HPF conference in 1999, Sir Mason Durie introduced another star-based framework to guide health promotion for Maori and other Indigenous peoples.

Sir Mason introduced “Matariki” at the 23rd World Conference on Health Promotion in Rotorua, last April.
“Matariki is the Māori name for the cluster of stars also known as the Pleiades (or Subaru in Japan). It rises in mid-winter and for many Māori, it heralds the start of a new year, a time for remembering the dead, celebrating new life and planting new crops,” he said. “The focus on stars reminds us that we are part of an unbounded universe.”

Based on the eight main stars in the cluster, he named eight Matariki dimensions of health: Mana Tangata -Human dignity, Whānau Ora – Families, Hapori – Communities, Ranginui – The sky, Papatuanuku- The land, Nga Wai – Rivers and oceans, Ngahere – The forests, and Te Ao Tuturu – Rhythms of nature.
“Matariki provides a health promotion agenda for Māori and Indigenous peoples that endorse Indigenous rights, keep our skies clean and fresh, protect our lands, preserve our native forests, enable whānau and families to flourish, support community initiatives, safeguard our rivers and ocean, and restore nature’s balance, ” Sir Mason asserts.
He also pointing out that when combined, the six stars of Te Pae Mahutonga and the eight stars of Matariki can continue to guide health promotion for Indigenous peoples into the future.
Details of Sir Mason’s presentation can be found on the IUHPE2019 website.
Global, Pacific

Dr Viliami Puloka, HPF’s Pacific Strategist looks back at the amazing Pacific experience at IUHPE2019 in Rotorua.
Fakafeta’I, malo lava, vinaka vakalevu are the words that come to mind – hearts full of joy and gratitude to be part of this world-wide event right here at home in Aotearoa New Zealand.
All the Pacific participants especially those from the islands were so thrilled and appreciative of the fact that they did not have to paddle far to get here. It was only a three-hour flight from Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia. It confirmed the fact that Aotearoa is squarely part of the Pacific islands.
Arriving in Rotorua was heart-warming to many who thought New Zealand was the land of the palangi. But all were excited to meet and share the experience of their Maori cousins. Many commented on the spiritual experience they had during the Powhiri, which reminded them of their own version at home.
Some were moved to tears when exchanges the “breath of life” with Maori delegates while walking between sessions or at various meeting venues.
We really felt at home and immediately identified with our Maori cousins and their environment. When Tamati Kurger spoke, we were already in awe, excited, joyful, appreciative and motivated for action. It was a big deal for us to come in to a very enabling, encouraging and empowering environment. That really prepared our hearts and minds to focus on the contents of the conference.
Pacific Community (SPC) commitment and partnership through sponsorship of participants to attend, give presentations led by the Director General Colin Tukuitoga as one of the Plenary speakers shows great leadership and very much appreciated.
A highlight for Pacific Youth was the SPC Pacific Youth WAKE UP art project unfolds itself through out the days of the conference. It was a call on young people to wake up to the facts that “today is the tomorrow you dreamt about yesterday”. What you do today as far as Noncommunicable diseases are concerned will return to haunt you at your later years.
WAKE UP NOW!
Global, Maori, Maori health promotion

HPF’s Deputy Executive Director Trevor Simpson, one of the principal architects of the Waiora Indigenous Statement reflects on its significance
The Waiora Indigenous Statement adopted at this year’s IUHPE World Conference in Rotorua provided a watershed moment for indigenous health promotion at the global level. It is a call to action which leverages on the assertion that indigenous people’s perspectives, worldviews and human experience informs a “new” way to think about health promotion and by virtue of this, a different perspective on planetary health and human wellbeing.
Of course, health promotion in its current format, largely based on western world views associates human health with the health of the planet. The Ottawa Charter identifies eight prerequisites, the fundamental conditions for health amongst which a stable eco-system and sustainable resources are but two. As broad fields of study these two areas remain vitally important, but it seems odd that planetary health and wellbeing is not specifically addressed within the existing health promotion framework. From observation it is more implied than defined. Further, it is difficult to discern where health promotion makes a clear and concerted effort to think past the Anthropocene, the current focus on an individual, human centred approach to health.
The Waiora Indigenous Statement provides some interesting componentry to help us understand at a fundamental level where indigenous thinking positions itself in the planetary and human wellbeing discussion. As the document rightfully points out, indigenous people and worldviews are diverse. However, when we overlay these aspects of diversity, we can then identify the commonalities which draw indigenous peoples together.
This provides a powerful construct, particularly when we centre on the core features; the interactive relationship between the spiritual and material realms, intergenerational and collective alignments and that the Mother Earth is a living being. It posits that Planet Earth and human beings have a special relationship to each other, one founded on interconnectedness and interdependence. We are therefore in the indigenous perspective, part of nature and not above it.
In a pre-conference discussion with Tamati Kruger, one of the highly acclaimed plenary speakers at this year’s event, he touched on a key principle of the Tuhoe Iwi’s Waitangi claim settlement outcome, principally the section in the Te Urewera Act 2014 in which the Crown (Government of Aotearoa New Zealand) and the Tuhoe people agreed that the Urewera (previously the Urewera National Park) was a “living person”. He suggests that this aspect was an imperative in the settlement negotiations. Without it, it would have been very difficult to reach an agreement.
As a significant precedent in law it is also nevertheless an assertion of world views.
It comes with a necessary proviso of course, duties on both parties: a living person should be cared for and nurtured. Care and nurture have in turn strong elements of responsibility and obligation. Indigenous Tuhoe people, therefore, have no choice but to provide for and nurture their piece of nature and in return have their place and wellbeing secured. As Tamati said in his plenary speech in Rotorua, “the Tuhoe people do not own the Urewera. The Urewera owns itself”.
This indigenous viewpoint leaves much to ponder. It questions our current thinking. It touches on the need for a paradigm shift in the way human beings see themselves in their relationship with this living planet. And it is now urgent.
As a living document we encourage all to endorse, use and critically analyse the Waiora Indigenous Statement. It is an offering for health promoters, policy makers and leaders. An intergenerational gift that seeks to define what health promotion means from an indigenous worldview. It is also a very useful resource to inform the development of health promotion itself- to be part of the actual framework rather than sitting outside it. To be part of a new design for people and planet.
The Waiora Indigenous Statement is a statement for all. It asks that we make space for and privilege indigenous peoples voices and indigenous knowledge in promoting planetary health and wellbeing. It offers a new way of thinking, resetting the course for health promotion and sustainable development. It suggests that if we listen carefully, we just might hear something beautiful and profound. Something to learn, something to embrace. Something for you, me and the generations to come.
Case Studies, Environment, Global
This Statement from Indigenous participants in the 23 rd IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion (Rotorua, Aotearoa New Zealand) is a call on the health promotion community and the wider global community to make space for and privilege Indigenous peoples’ voices and Indigenous knowledges in promoting planetary health and sustainable development for the benefit of all. It should be read alongside the Rotorua Statement from all participants in this Conference.
Indigenous peoples are diverse and our worldviews, which have developed over millennia of human experience, are specific to peoples and place. However, there are fundamental commonalities in these worldviews that have provided the basis for Indigenous peoples’ movements that draw us together around our shared interests. Core features of Indigenous
worldviews are the interactive relationship between spiritual and material realms, intergenerational and collective orientations, that Mother Earth is a living being – a ‘person’ with whom we have special relationships that are a foundation for identity, and the interconnectedness and interdependence between all that exists, which locates humanity as part of Mother Earth’s ecosystems alongside our relations in the natural world.
Understanding our place in the natural world in relational ways leads us to consider how access to the natural environment shapes human health and wellbeing, the impacts of our activities on the environment, and our inalienable collective responsibilities of stewardship which will benefit future generations.
Within Indigenous worldviews our relationship with the natural world is characterised by reverence and values that include sustainability, guardianship and love. Planetary health is understood as the health and wellbeing of Mother Earth and of humanity as an inextricable part of natural ecosystems. It should also be noted that Indigenous languages are critical in articulating Indigenous worldviews as they
enable the most full and accurate expression of Indigenous conceptualisations, and should be protected.
The forces of colonisation, capitalism and globalisation have caused massive environmental degradation, climate change, loss of biodiversity and the devastation of Indigenous communities. Further, they have led to intellectual imperialism and the widespread subjugation and exclusion of Indigenous worldviews, bodies of knowledge and voices.
Prevailing Western and other worldviews promote individualism and anthropocentric perspectives that to human peril separate humanity from the natural world. This has encouraged human activity that accelerates the depletion of planetary resources, the destruction of ecosystems, pollution, climate change and increase in the risk of ecological collapse.
Environmental degradation impacts disproportionately on Indigenous peoples because of close relationships with the natural world and our already marginalised circumstances in nation states. The silencing of Indigenous voices and the subjugation of Indigenous bodies of knowledge has been detrimental to all, most evident in our global environmental crisis.
Indigenous health promotion (as opposed to the generic form of health promotion which has largely Western origins) emerged in response to Indigenous peoples’ needs to make space for our own ways of seeing the world and as a vehicle to realise our aspirations to sustain future generations who are healthy, proud and confident as Indigenous peoples. It is an Indigenous-led endeavour with origins that stretch back in time to customary systems to maintain health and wellbeing that emphasised social and ecological connections. At the same time, Indigenous health promotion is open to knowledge generated from within other worldviews where there is alignment. Indigenous health promotion can be understood as the process of increasing Indigenous peoples’ control over the determinants of health and strengthening our identities as Indigenous peoples.
Ecological collapse is the greatest threat to human health and survival globally. Health promotion (policy, research, education and practice) needs to change to effectively respond to the challenges of the Anthropocene and bring intergenerational health equity into its systems and frameworks. Engaging with indigenous worldviews and bodies of knowledge
provides opportunities to find solutions to this most pressing threat and ways forward to promote the health of Mother Earth and sustainable development.
We call on the health promotion community and the wider global community to make space for and privilege Indigenous peoples’ voices and Indigenous knowledge in taking action with us to promote the health of Mother Earth and sustainable development for the benefit of all.
Case Studies, Environment, Global
Rotorua Statement
This Statement represents the collective voice of the social movement members, researchers, practitioners and policymakers who participated in the 23rd IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion, held in Rotorua, Aotearoa New Zealand in April 2019. It should be read alongside the Indigenous Peoples’ Statement for Planetary Health and Sustainable Development from this Conference.
The conference participants call on the global community to urgently act to promote planetary health and sustainable development for all, now and for the sake of future generations. Planetary health is the health of humanity and the natural systems of which we are part. 1 It builds on Indigenous peoples’ principles of holism and interconnectedness, strengthening public health and health promotion action on ecological and social determinants of health. It puts the wellbeing of people and the planet at the heart of decision-making, recognising that the economy, as a social construct, must be a supportive tool fit for this purpose in the 21 st century.
Waiora is an Indigenous concept of our host country, Aotearoa New Zealand, which expresses the interconnections between peoples’ health and the natural environment, and the imperative of sustainable development. 2 3 Waiora represents a call to work with Indigenous peoples to draw on Indigenous knowledge, and to share knowledge from our diverse cultural systems for the wellbeing of the planet and humanity. Sustainable development for all is a clear way to ensure environmental, social and health justice for the people of today and for future generations.
Urgent action is needed because mounting evidence tells us that the current
economic and social development paradigm of infinite growth and endless exploitation of limited natural resources is unjust and unsustainable, leading to inequities within and among countries and across generations.
In 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted the new development agenda
“Transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development”. 4 The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) integrate economic, social and environmental development around the themes of people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership. In doing so, they provide an action plan for the global community.
They prioritise the fight against poverty and hunger while focusing on human rights for all, and the empowerment of women and girls as part of the push to achieve gender equality. The SDGs recognise that eradicating poverty and inequality, creating inclusive economic growth and preserving the planet are inextricably linked to each other and to population health. 5
Conference participants call for immediate action from the global community in four key areas.
- Ensure health equity throughout the life course, within and among countries, and within and across generations. This requires:
The development of all peoples as empowered lifelong learners and
engaged contributors to individual health and the health of families,
communities and the planet.
Action and accountability to address the wide and enduring inequities
experienced by Indigenous peoples, while ensuring the protection of
cultural identity and customary ways of life.
Tackling the structural factors that drive the inequitable distribution of power, money, and resources; improving daily living conditions especially of those most in need; and measuring and understanding the problem and assessing the impact of action as outlined by the Commission on Social Determinants of Health. 6 Prioritising intergenerational health equity in systems, frameworks and
decision-making, as a central tenet of a planetary approach to health - Make all urban and other habitats inclusive, safe, resilient, sustainable and conducive to health and wellbeing for people and the planet. This requires: Renewing and strengthening our relationship with planetary ecosystems. Protection of the planet from degradation, including through sustainable production, management and consumption of natural resources so that the planet can support the needs of present and future generations. This requires taking, enabling and advocating for immediate action on climate change and the loss of biodiversity.
Action to reduce disparities in the quality and quantity of resources
available to communities as these disparities are at the root of inequities in health. Current threats will accentuate such disparities. These include threats to food and water supplies associated with climate change, depletion of both renewable and non-renewable resources, the degradation of the environment such as contamination of food chains and ecosystems, poor air quality and massive forced migrations.
Greater cross-sectoral action to protect and improve the health of
populations experiencing inequities, including those in the world’s fast- growing urban areas.
Fostering of peaceful, just and inclusive societies which are free from fear, racism, violation and other violence.
The realisation of the health co-benefits of sustainable ‘One Planet’ living.
3
Ensuring urban decision-makers apply a “health equity lens” to assess the
risks and opportunities posed by policies and programmes and measure
their effects. 7
- Design and implement effective and fair climate change adaptation strategies.
This includes:
The development of new approaches to global, regional, national and local governance and stewardship that will equitably promote health and well- being and prevent and mitigate disastrous climate and environmental breakdown, particularly in Low and Middle-Income Countries.
Repositioning Indigenous and traditional knowledge systems to be on an equal footing with science and other knowledge systems to promote health and well-being and prevent and mitigate disastrous climate change and environmental breakdown.
Development of action-oriented policies and partnerships between health and other sectors to develop policies addressing health and climate. - Build collaborative, effective, accountable and inclusive governance, systems and processes at all levels to promote participation, peace, justice, respect of human rights and intergenerational health equity. This requires:
Respect for and adherence to the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples as articulated in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Effective global governance free from the domination of economic considerations and commercial interests.
The promotion of participatory democracy, coherent policy-making and regulation in the public interest and to restrict conflict of interest.
Participants at the 23rd IUHPE World Conference in Rotorua also confirm the critical role and relevant expertise of the health promotion community in promoting human health, planetary health and sustainable development, including implementing the SDGs. Participants urge the health promotion community to provide leadership across our one planet.
References:
- Whitmee S, Haines A, Beyrer C, et al. Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch:
report of The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health. The Lancet
2015;386(10007):1973-2028. - Durie M. An Indigenous Model of Health Promotion. 18th World Conference on Health Promotion
and Health Education. Melbourne, 2004. - Durie M. An Indigenous model of health promotion. Health Promotion Journal of Australia
2004;15:181-85. - UN General Assembly. Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
New York: United Nations 2015 - World Health Organization. Health in 2015: from MDGs, millennium development goals to SDGs,
sustainable development goals. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2015 - Marmot M, Friel S, Bell R, et al. Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on
the social determinants of health. The Lancet 2008;372(9650):1661-69. - World Health Organization. Health as the pulse of the new urban agenda: United Nations
conference on housing and sustainable urban development, Quito, October 2016. Geneva:
World Health Organization, 2016.
Global, Maori
By Trevor Simpson In April next year Aotearoa New Zealand will welcome the global health promotion workforce to Rotorua City for what is arguably the most important event on the health promotion calendar. The 23rd IUHPE (International Union for Health Promotion and Education) World Conference 2019 on health promotion will bring together experts, practitioners and interest groups who will converge to discuss health promotion across a range of political, economic and social contexts. At the earliest stages the notion of the importance of indigenous health promotion and the opportunity to leverage indigenous aspirations for wellbeing were at the fore. Elevating this discussion to the highest level became a driver – not only for the inclusion of indigenous elements in the conference programme but rather to underpin and permeate every aspect of the meeting. There is an unprecedented opportunity for indigenous health promotion leaders to use this platform to share our ideas, strengthen our resolve and promote wellbeing from a specific indigenous perspective. Milestones for Indigeneity – a conference with a difference From the initial discussions around the feasibility of bringing the conference to Aotearoa New Zealand through to the eventual bid in Curitiba, Brazil, the team at the Health Promotion Forum (HPF) were deliberate in ensuring the place of indigeneity. Indeed, the bid made to the IUHPE Global Executive Board in May 2016, included an indigenous Maori approach that ensured cultural imperatives were attended to from the outset; thoughtfully laying a platform upon which the entire event will be projected. In doing so this conference will provide the basis for unity in diversity for global health promotion, aligning western, eastern and indigenous perspectives across the theme of sustainable development and planetary wellbeing.There is an unprecedented opportunity for indigenous health promotion leaders to use this platform to share our ideas, strengthen our resolve and promote wellbeing from a specific indigenous perspective.The overarching theme of the conference for the first time includes the indigenous term “Waiora” loosely meaning “life-giving water”. Similar to “Vaiola” in Pacific vernacular the word relates to the sacred nature of water as a life-giving element. Appropriately, delegates will be situated in the south of the Pacific Ocean, the largest body of water on Earth, the historical home to many indigenous people, all of whom maintain a deep appreciation and affection for the ocean and the islands upon which they depend. Te Reo Maori a world-first For the first time Te Reo Maori as an indigenous language will be one of the four official languages of the conference. It will not only be used and encouraged throughout but also built into the official programme. Delegates will be able to experience this from the opening powhiri (Maori welcome ceremony), the inaugural speech in the Maori language by a plenary speaker, Tamati Kruger through to the poroporoaki (closing ceremony) where in each case the language will take precedence. Broadly, indigenous Maori themes, language, storytelling, arts and performance will provide a wonderful array of cultural features to enhance what is shaping up to be a wonderful scientific programme. Significantly, along with Tamati Kruger four of the other 11 plenary speakers are from indigenous backgrounds. Stanley Vollant, Sir Mason Durie, Tony Capon and Colin Tukuitonga will bolster what is already a strong format for indigeneity at the plenary level. In terms of leadership this group provides a global perspective that will influence indigenous health promotion practice well into the future. The programme also includes an Indigenous sub-plenary and opportunities to observe and participate in oral presentations, workshops and poster walks where indigenous health promoters and those working in indigenous communities can share their ideas. Committed to the cause Some wonderful work is also going on in the background. For the first time a team of guest editors will pull together an Indigenous Supplement to the IUHPE Global Health Promotion Journal to be released in time for the conference. The propensity for a supplement such as this to reach across the globe is not underestimated and the leadership of the IUHPE team working on the journal, the editors and guest editors to engage in such a project is a fine example of commitment to an important cause. Additionally, a small team is working on drafting a Rotorua Indigenous Statement (yet untitled) to be considered for ratification in Rotorua. Not underestimating the magnitude of this project, the team is looking to include a wide range of perspectives, draw on expert knowledge and finally put out a call for support. At this stage the proposal is to release draft one version early in the New Year for members to consider, followed by a second draft in early March. The third and final draft will be presented at the conference itself and with the support of the delegates, formally endorsed. In mentioning Rotorua, it should be noted that Te Arawa, the tribal hosts and supporters of the conference are renowned not only for their hospitality but also for their cultural strengths in history, language and arts. These are significant factors which have contributed to tribal, social and economic development not only in the city but across the lake’s region. It is impossible to escape indigeneity in this part of the world. It is an indelible asset that speaks to a world of possibilities, not only for Aotearoa New Zealand but for everyone and every place.

Global, Uncategorized
More speakers have been confirmed for the world conference on health promotion in Rotorua next year adding to the diverse line-up. They include respected indigenous leaders from around the world and New Zealand who will be sharing their knowledge and expertise at the 23rd International Union of Health Promotion and Education World Conference from April 7 to 11. Registrations for the conference which is co-hosted by the Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand are now open and the call for abstracts has gone out. We take a look at: Dr Stanley Vollant, the first indigenous surgeon in Quebec, Canada; Sir Mason Durie, one of New Zealand’s most respected academics, knighted in 2010 for services to public and Māori health and Tamati Kruger, Māori advocate and social and political analyst.


Global

Hauora catches up with HPF’s Executive Director, Sione Tu’itahi, on the significance of the conference for New Zealand and the world.
What made you decide to invite the conference to NZ? There were three major reasons. First, New Zealand is part of the global community. And we have common, global challenges that determine our health and wellbeing, such as the environment, economy, education, governance and leadership, which directly impact at the national and local levels. To address these challenges, we must engage on all levels, especially at the global level. No man is an island anymore. The world is but one country. Second, and as part of the significant damage caused mostly by us humans to our natural and built environment, climate change is the most urgent issue to be addressed today. Our Pacific region, is where climate change is most evident – eroding and sinking islands, sea level-rise because of global warming, tsunamis, cyclones, and people having to migrate from their homelands because of these disasters. Clearly, the environment is one of the major determinants of our health and wellbeing. So our region must engage in finding solutions to these issues through health promotion and other professional fields. And it is timely and propitious to have that conversation in our region so that health promoters, other health workers, policy makers and other professionals whose work impacts on our health and wellbeing, come together to share experience and explore solutions. That is why we have the conference over-arching theme as “Waiora: Promoting Planetary Health and Sustainable Development for All,” and the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the framework. Third, New Zealand is a world leader in Indigenous knowledge and health promotion. Indigenous knowledge systems are now being acknowledged as contributors of solutions to world problems. We can share our experience with the rest of the world, and we can learn from their experience too. For example, Indigenous cultures see humanity as part of and inseparable from the environment. Therefore, we humans must live in harmony with nature, and within its limits. The dominant cultural paradigms of the last two centuries regard humans as not only separate from but also owners of the environment, which is seen as a limitless resource to exploit for their insatiable wants. Today we all experience the folly of such perspectives and practices. I think we are beginning to learn some lessons from that erroneous worldview and its underlying values and principles. Overall, we decided to host because we think that New Zealand health promotion can contribute to addressing inequities and the wellbeing of the world. But also, we have a lot to learn from colleagues around the world, and to strengthen our relationship with IUHPE which leads the ongoing advancement of health promotion, including the development of the global accreditation framework for health promoters. HPF is party to the development of that global accreditation framework which will enhance the efficacy of the health promotion profession for the competency of health promoters and the wellbeing of peoples and communities they serve around the world. Among other benefits, it will also give international recognition to national health promotion qualifications, with positive implications for work in other countries. What other benefits can New Zealand gain from the conference? There are a few major benefits, not just for New Zealand but for the rest of the world. Evidence-based knowledge that works will be shared and everyone will learn at the conference. Also, national, regional, and international networks and collaborative efforts will be further enhanced and strengthened among professionals across health and other sectors. We have no choice but to work together, or we suffer and perish together, whether we like it or not. A third benefit is that two statements from the conference will provide future pathways for policy makers, health professionals and communities on how to address our common, global challenges that impact on our common home, planet earth. One of these two future-focus statements will be on Indigenous health promotion. A fourth benefit is that Te Reo Maori is elevated to one of the four official languages of the conference. This is a world-first for IUHPE and for New Zealand. It might be a small step, but to have an indigenous language as one of the official languages of a world conference is a giant step for indigenous human rights. It is also a most empowering message to indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities in terms of championing their rights, their wellbeing, and preserving their knowledge systems through preserving their languages. Actually, having Te Reo as an official language is part of our using of Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the framework for organising the conference. It is another way of sharing our New Zealand experience with the rest of the world. A fifth benefit for New Zealand is the aspirational goals for Rotorua to be a ‘healthy city’ under the World Health Organization (WHO) system. And, of course the 2000 participants will bring economic gains for the country, and not just the tourism sector. It is our experience that participants travel to gain knowledge and enhance their professional networks, but they also take their families and loved ones to visit the host country. It’s a great way of promoting our beautiful country to the world. So you see, the conference will bring many benefits to all parties. It is a win-win initiative. But what challenges do you and your team face in organising this world event in NZ? There are the usual logistical challenges that come with organising events, such as finance, appropriate venues, communication, transport, accommodation and food. All this while trying to create a high-quality scientific and social programmes that will attract the top of your profession as keynote speakers, as well as other participants who will bring their latest research findings and professional experience to share and to learn from one another.

Global, Maori health promotion
Having Te Reo Maori as one of the four official languages of the World Conference on Health Promotion in New Zealand next year is a world-first for Maori and other Indigenous cultures. The 23rd IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion: WAIORA: Promoting Planetary Health and Sustainable Development for All will be held in Rotorua from April 7-11. Like the other dying languages of the 370 million Indigenous peoples of the world, Te Reo Maori is the repository for the Maori culture – values, knowledge, practices and history. Sione Tu’itahi, the conference co-chair and Executive Director of the Health Promotion Forum which is the local co-host, says having Te Reo Maori as one of the four official languages of the conference is one way of acknowledging the rights of Indigenous peoples. “Te Reo Maori is the native tongue of Maori, the Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand. It is also one of the official languages of our country,” says Mr Tu’itahi. “Given that we are co-hosting this world conference, it is only right that we honour Te Reo Maori this way, especially when it is rights guaranteed for Tangata Whenua under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the founding document of modern New Zealand.” One of the underlying themes of the conference, Indigenous knowledge on health promotion and sustainable development can offer solutions to our global challenges today, adds Mr Tu’itahi. “Indigenous knowledge enunciates that humanity and its environment are one. But we are confronted by environmental challenges, including climate changes, because of our dominant mainstream approach of separating humanity from the rest of the environment and exploiting the latter for our socio-economic gains.” Trevor Simpson, the Deputy Executive Director/Senior Health Promotion Strategist (with Portfolio in Māori development) says “for the first time an indigenous plenary speaker will address the IUHPE World Conference in our indigenous language, Te Reo Maori”. “This in turn will be simultaneously translated into the other three official languages of the conference – English, French and Spanish. This presents a wonderful opportunity for Aotearoa, New Zealand to take a leading role in building indigenous notions of health promotion through promoting the use of indigenous language.” Mr Simpson points out that Maori Health Promotion is premised on the idea that world views and cultural identity are central and imperative to achieving positive Maori health outcomes. “Te Reo Maori provides the basis for understanding how these views are formed in the first place and also illustrates how identity, language and wellbeing are intertwined.” The conference theme sets the direction and intent of the conference that will attract health professionals, development experts, policy-makers and other professional leaders to Rotorua, the first city to be bi-lingual, and also the cultural capital of New Zealand. A highly educational and informative scientific programme is being drafted while an equally attractive social programme is being shaped up.Global, Uncategorized
Abstracts for the World Conference on Health Promotion that will be held in New Zealand next year must be in by August 31. Submissions for the 23rd International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) World Conference on Health Promotion to be held in Rotorua from April 7 to 11 can be made in English, Spanish, French and Te Reo Māori. The Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand (HPF) is hosting the conference in association with the IUHPE. The approximate date of acceptance of abstracts is October 22 and all abstracts must be submitted through this online form. All abstract submitters, including individual contributors, are encouraged to interact and collaborate with other presenters and participants wherever possible. Participatory, collaborative and non-traditional session formats will be given priority in the selection process. Abstracts can be submitted in eight different formats: symposium; workshop; research oral/poster presentation; innovation in policy and practice oral/poster presentation; round table discussion; alternative showing/new technology; alternative showing/art and lunch with an author. The committee is encouraging submissions to match the sub-themes of the conference. Abstracts can be submitted under one of the four conference sub-themes: Health equity Ensure health equity throughout the life course, within and among countries, making each member of the global society an empowered lifelong learner. Inclusive habitats Make all urban and other habitats inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable and conducive to health and wellbeing. Climate change adaptation strategies Design and implement effective and fair climate change adaptation strategies. Build effective, accountable and inclusive governance Build effective, accountable and inclusive governance at all levels that promotes, peace, justice and respect of human rights. For further information on each of these formats please click here.Global
A top line-up of speakers from around the world and New Zealand has been confirmed for the world health promotion conference in Rotorua, New Zealand next year. The theme of the 23rd IHUPE (International Union for Health Promotion and Education) Health conference to be held from April 7 to 11 is Waiora: Promoting Planetary Health and Sustainable Development for All. The Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand (HPF) is co-hosting the conference which is expected to be attended by 2000 delegates from all over the world.. Co-chairs of the conference Sione Tui’tahi, Executive Director, Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand and Graham Robertson, President, IUHPE, say the conference will be invaluable for those in the sector to exchange knowledge and build networks in order to: share strategies, policies and practices; present results and assess progress; influence policy and bring about positive change and promote health and equity amongst all people. The chance to hear from internationally-recognised speakers such as Professor Anthony Capon from the University of Sydney and Professor Fran Baum from Flinders University, Adelaide is also too good an opportunity to miss.

Experts, Global, News, What is HP
Leaders pledge support for World Conference The leaders of two highly regarded international bodies have signalled their support of the next World Health Promotion Conference. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator the Rt Hon Helen Clark and Dr Colin Tukuitonga, Director-General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) have both indicated their organisations’ support of the Conference, to be held in Rotorua in April 2019. Representatives of host organisation Health Promotion Forum met with both Ms Clark and Dr Tukuitonga during a conference in Tonga this month. Ms Clark who, as New Zealand’s Prime Minister has spoken at Health Promotion Forum’s annual symposium, acknowledged the importance of planetary health and sustainable development and expressed her organisation’s interest in being involved. Ms Clark was the keynote speaker on Monday at the Pacific NCD Summit in Nuku’alofa, June 20-22, for health ministers of the Pacific, which was organised by the Secretariat to the Pacific Community (SPC). Dr Tukuitonga has expressed his wish for a strong Pacific presence at the conference and has pledged the involvement of his Pacific-wide organisation to support this aim. The theme of the triennial conference of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) is “Promoting Planetary Health and Sustainable Development for All.” Pictured from left- Ms Osnat Lubrani, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, UNDP Pacific Office,
- Dr Viliami Puloka, HPF Pacific Leader and Otago University Research Fellow,
- Rt Hon Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator and former Prime Minister of New Zealand,
- Ms Leanne Eruera, HPF Business Manager and 2019 Conference Project Manager,
- Mr Sione Tu’itahi, HPF Executive Director and IUHPE Vice-President.

Global, News
Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand – Runanga Whakapiki Ake i te Hauora o Aotearoa (HPF) has been successful in its bid to host the next World Conference on Health Promotion. This will be the first time New Zealand has hosted the conference and represents the country’s recognised leadership in health promotion: particularly indigenous wellbeing. Set to take place in Rotorua, April 2019, the triennial conference of the International Union of Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) will receive 2,000-3,000 health promotion and education professionals from around the world. The win was announced on May 27 (NZ time) at the closing ceremony of the 22nd world health promotion conference of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) that was held on May 22-27 in Curitiba, Brazil. “We are delighted by the IUHPE’s confidence in our ability to host one of the most important events in the health promotion calendar,” said HPF’s Executive Director, Sione Tu’itahi. “We are also grateful for the hard work and expertise from our partners in preparing our bid. Now the real work begins to plan and stage a top class conference that upholds our reputation around the world.” HPF was supported by NZ Tourism and engaged the help of The Conference Company to conduct a thorough feasibility study before making its bid. Rotorua was selected for its world-class meeting facilities and accommodation as well as for its reputation as the cultural heartland of New Zealand. The area showcases initiatives in socio-economic development, sustainability, holistic wellbeing and environmental protection: all of which are aspect of health promotion. The organisation received overwhelming support for its bid from influential New Zealanders including Sir Mason Durie, Rt Hon John Key, Hon Dr Jonathon Coleman, as well as tertiary institutes and key local Rotorua bodies. Health Promotion Forum is the national umbrella organisation for health promotion in Aotearoa New Zealand. It also plays a leading role in the development of health promotion in the Pacific region and internationally. IUHPE is an international organisation that leads the on-going advancement of health promotion in the world.
Experts, Global, Policy, What is HP
Health Promotion Forum was fortunate to get some time with Emeritus Professor John Raeburn recently, to ask him about his more than 40 years as a health promotion advocate. As one of two NZ delegates at the WHO’s first International Conference on Health Promotion, from which the Ottawa Charter emerged, Professor Raeburn made a small but significant contribution to the content of the document; the inclusion of a sentence emphasising the importance of empowerment. This was the only time the word appeared in the Charter. He has upheld the principles of community and health promotion ever since. Invited to attend the 1986 Conference in Ottawa by the Ministry of Health, Prof Raeburn had recently returned from a sabbatical in Canada from his teaching role at the University of Auckland Medical School. There he had been working alongside Ron Draper; head of the Health Promotion Directorate at Health Canada. He considered this the ‘Mecca’ of health promotion and Ron Draper one of his heroes. “Canada actually invented health promotion in the 1970s,” says Prof Raeburn. Little did he know that his year’s sabbatical would see him caught up in the preparations for the seminal Conference at which he was to later play such a significant role. The other New Zealand delegate to the Conference was a Canadian man called Larry Peters, who was asked to go in his capacity as the first director of the Health Promotion Forum (Larry later went back to Canada and worked in the Health Promotion Directorate).

Competencies, Global, What is HP
The International Union of Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) has recently acknowledged the New Zealand Health Promotion Competencies as equivalent to its own European Competencies. This is a promising step towards the ultimate aim of global competencies and accreditation; which would offer health promoters the potential to broaden employment opportunities and the exchange of knowledge and experience around the world.

Global, Pacific
The cluster of Zika virus outbreaks and the associated neurological disorders has caused global concern; particularly in tropical and sub-tropical areas. HPF’s Dr Viliami Puloka offers a perspective for consideration by health promoters working to prevent disease and for the communities under threat. Communities can be empowered with information on prevention of the spread of disease and on how to remain healthy in order to fight the virus, should they become infected, he says.
Evidence, Global, News
A glowing review by Henry March was published this month in UK paper NewStatesman of Michael Marmot’s book The Health Gap: the Challenge of an Unequal World. The review – and the book – highlights Marmot’s long-held view that mortality statistics are a question of inequity.
Global, What is HP
University professor and physician Trevor Hancock has urged society to rethink the role and effectiveness of health care as a determinant of our health. According to his December 2014 article in Canadian newspaper Times Colonist “…as a society we should be investing more in creating social conditions and environments that make people healthy, rather than in increasingly expensive high-tech care.” This is very sound advice, according to HPF’s senior health promotion strategist Dr Viliami Puloka. Traditionally, we have given hospitals, doctors and the health care system the responsibility to look after our health. “That relationship seemed to work well in the days where most of our health issues were largely acute infective processes that required urgent but short term medical interventions by doctors and nurses,” says Viliami. “However, the major health problems we face today are not acute infections from a single organism treatable with antibiotics, but chronic conditions with multiple risk factors that lie outside the remits of the existing health care system.” Dr Hancock’s article highlights two main points that are very relevant to the situation in New Zealand. Firstly, the importance of shared responsibility for the management of people’s health; between the individuals themselves, the wider community and health care providers. This is particularly critical in the management of chronic conditions, such as diabetes and obesity, where the individual has to make healthy choices and behaviour modifications in order to be well. The role of health care providers here is to support and empower individuals to make these healthy choices. Secondly, the importance of enabling-environments where healthy choices are the easy choices. These enabling-environments must include socio-economic and political environments. Dr Hancock refers to these as the upstream – or health – determinants that are outside the reach of the individuals and the jurisdictions of the health system.
Global, Video, What is HP
Two videos from the Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand (HPF) are receiving widespread praise – and calls for more – across the population health community in Aotearoa and the world.
Evidence, Global, News

- Such campaigns do not address the primary causes of inequalities such as poverty and deprivation and
- There is greater likelihood that the approaches would be taken up by the more literate and financially-able middle classes than those living in poverty.
- Measures through the taxation and benefits system;
- Agencies collaborating to work effectively on related policies such as housing and education;
- NHS to provide better access to primary health services for the poorest and most vulnerable.

Global, News
The World Health Organization (WHO) identified a need for the development of public health leadership at a conference in November. The global body called on governments, acadaemia, civil society and public health institutions to commit greater effort to developing the skills needed in the field; in order to protect public health values and to mitigate against public health threats.
The economics of social jutice – cost benefit analysis to achieve social determinants action
The main thrust of Martin Laverty’s presentation was that equity is an economic asset for a country and should be valued as such.Politics, Power and People
“Austerity kills” – that was the claim of Sharon Friel, Professor of Health Equity at the Australian National University, Canberra in her presentationPower and People: a game plan for health equity in the 21st Century.Diet, Global, News
Consumers International (CI) and World Obesity Federation (WOF) are calling on the international community to develop a global convention to fight diet-related ill health, similar to the legal framework for tobacco control. Unhealthy diets now rank above tobacco as a global cause of preventable non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
Diet, Global, News
Consumers International (CI) and World Obesity Federation (WOF) are calling on the international community to develop a global convention to fight diet-related ill health, similar to the legal framework for tobacco control. Unhealthy diets now rank above tobacco as a global cause of preventable non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The two international membership bodies will officially launch their Recommendations towards a Global Convention to protect and promote healthy diets at the World Health Assembly in Geneva.
Global, News, Policy
An in-depth paper published in The Lancet this February urges policy makers to recognise and address global political determinants of health inequity. “Grave health inequity is morally unacceptable,” the authors say; it is a “global political responsibility” to ensure “transnational activity does not hinder people from attaining their full health potential.”
Highlights from the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) World Conference on Health Promotion
– “Best Investment for Health” IUHPE President Michael Sparks took time out of his busy schedule to present the highlights of the conference for HPF.
Highlights of the 21st International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) World Conference on Health Promotion:
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New Zealand contribution
Of particular interest was the work done by the IUHPE’s Indigenous Health Promotion Network. Work done in the South West Pacific region with Māori and Indigenous Australian populations is often viewed as cutting edge and sessions were well attended by conference participants from other countries. Presentations from the region included a well-received one by HPF’s Deputy Executive Director Trevor Simpson. Another development of particular interest to health promoters of Aotearoa New Zealand was the shifting of the leadership in the South West Pacific region of the IUHPE to this country. The Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand Executive Director, Sione Tu’itahi, has been elected Vice-President of the South West Pacific Region of IUHPE, while Associate Professor Louise Signal, Director of the Health Promotion and Policy Research Unit (HePPRU) and Health, Wellbeing & Equity Impact Assessment Research Unit (HIA), Department of Public Health, Otago University is its Regional Director. Until now these positions have been drawn from Australia for many year.Delegates weighed in to support local battle to improve tobacco control in Thailand
During the conference there were also interesting developments in relation to local tobacco controls. The tobacco Giant Philip Morris challenged in court the Thai Ministry of Public Health’s legislation to increase health warnings on cigarette packages to 85% of the outer surface. The country’s lower court issued an injunction against the Public Health Ministry to suspend enforcement of the regulations. Informed of these developments, conference delegates took action: developing a letter of support to the minister and petitioning the IUHPE General Assembly to write to the minister. Delegates also participated in a local media event to publicise the global support for tobacco control clearly evident at the conference. Following the conference The Ministry, encouraged by the support from the global health promotion community, has appealed against the injunction to the Supreme Court. A ruling is expected late this year or early in 2014.New awards created
Two new awards were created this year: the “most liked” daily poster session and the “Health Promotion Practice” awards. Recipients of the latter were three distinguished practitioners:- Dr. Gene R.Carter, the Executive Director and CEO of ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development)
- Prof.Prakit Vathesatogkit, Executive Secretary, The Action on Smoking and Health Foundation
- Dr. Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno III, Lecturer, University of Liverpool

Family and child, Global, Maori, What is HP

Global, Maori, Smoking

HPF – and New Zealand – is making a significant contribution to world health agendas. Its most recent input was to the scientific programme of the 16th World Congress on Tobacco or Health. As a member of the board of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE), HPF’s Executive Director Sione Tu’itahi ensured the needs of indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities were included in the recommendations invited from the global organisation.
“This is a big step for New Zealand, the HPF and for Maori and all other indigenous peoples,” says Sione. Smaller countries and ethnic minorities are often overlooked and vulnerable to the driving force of large companies and countries. “Having a voice at this level is a wonderful opportunity to advocate for the rights of these less-represented peoples.”
Recommendations about the conference from the IUHPE included:
Discussions about the post-2015 development agenda to ensure health, including non-communicable diseases and social determinants are given the appropriate attention. Discussion around support for politicians in the battle with tobacco industry on initiatives such as plain packaging. Seeing outputs and outcomes of the WHO Europe NCD ministerial event focussing primarily on tobacco.- Focussing on ‘how to do’ as much as ‘what to do’
- Including the health needs of indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities in all strategies.
Sione is the first indigenous person from the Pacific region to hold an official post with the IUHPE. He is a member of the global board in his role as Vice-President of IUHPE, South West Pacific Region, which covers New Zealand, Australia, all small Pacific island nations and some countries in Asia.
IUHPE is a global umbrella organisation for health promotion professionals and organisations of the world. Its headquarters are in Paris. For the next three years (2013-2016) its South West Pacific Region office will be co-hosted by the Health Promotion Forum and the Health Promotion and Research and Evaluation Unit (HePPRU) of Otago University’s School of Public Health. HePPRU’s Director, Associate Professor Louise Signal, is also the Director of IUHPE for the South West Pacific Region.
Sione recently attended a meeting of the IUHPE’s Global Executive Board in Paris. Read more about the trip here.
The HPF is a national umbrella organisation for health promotion organisations and teams in New Zealand.
Global, Policy

Global, Policy
30 October 2013: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released a review, which “answers policy-makers’ demands for practical guidance on social policies that work to reduce inequities in health”. The review identifies 12 “best buy” priorities for policy; particularly child poverty and unemployment in young people. “For the first time we have an unprecedented evidence-based set of practical policy recommendations about what all countries can do to address the so-called “upstream” causes of health inequities, specifically targeted to their income level,” says Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe
Global, Maori, News, What is HP
Health promotion programmes in Aotearoa New Zealand were held up as models of best practice in August at the annual conference of the world’s most highly respected health promotion organisation. Senior Health Promotion Strategists from the Health Promotion Forum (HPF) are participating at the conference of the International Union of Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) in Pattaya, Thailand, August 25-29 2013.
Global, What is HP
