HPH publishes new health promotion standards
The International Network of Health Promoting Hospitals & Health Services (HPH) has ratified new standards for health promotion. The five current standards highlight the role of leadership in health promotion, call for better access to health services (in terms of sociocultural aspects and organizational health literacy), patientcentred care that includes access to comprehensive health information, shared decisionmaking, and selfmanagement support. They describe requirements for a health-promoting workplace and call for increased sustainability regarding long-term outcomes of clinical interventions and the environmental impact of hospitals and health services.
The HPH network brings together more than 600 hospitals from 33 countries
International Network of Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services (HPH) was founded on the settings approach to health promotion in response to the WHO action area “Realigning Health Services” in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. WHO stimulated a movement by initiating an international network of national and subnational networks that supported the implementation of this approach. As of 2021, the HPH network consists of more than 600 hospitals and health services from 33 countries.
The network’s international Secretariat is managed by OptiMedis. Oliver Gröne, PhD emphasizes, “The new standards for health-promoting hospitals and health services facilities represent an important update of the existing standards. They reflect several new areas of policy, practice, and evidence to support a broader implementation of the HPH vision. Specifically, they reflect the Global HPH Strategy 2021-2025 and the opportunities and challenges addressed by initiatives such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the Shanghai Declaration on Health Promotion in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Astana Declaration.” The new standards are available to download from the HPH website here!
