Health-promoting workplaces—international settings development

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT Strategic partnership and settings approach to health promotion The Jakarta Declaration adopted at the Fourth International Conference on Health Promotion held in July 1997 sets out the direction of health promotion in the 21st century. The conference stressed the importance of multisectoral cooperation and partnerships in addressing public health challenges, and highlighted the settings approach as one of the main strategies to move forward. The workplace, along with the school, hospital, city, island and marketplace, has been established as one of the priority settings for health promotion into the 21st century. The workplace is one of the most important settings affecting the physical, mental, economic and social well-being of workers, and in turn the health of their families, communities and society. It offers an ideal setting and infrastructure to support the promotion of health of a large audience. The health of workers is also affected by nonwork-related factors. By improving their knowledge and skills to manage health, and by establishing an environment conducive to health within and outside the respective workplace, the workers, their families and the workplace itself should benefit. The health-promoting workplace can bring about positive changes which support the overall success of an organization. The concept of the health-promoting workplace is becoming more important and more relevant as more private and public organizations increasingly recognize that future success in an increasingly globalized marketplace can only be realized with a healthy, qualified and motivated workforce. A health-promoting workplace can ensure a flexible and dynamic balance between customer expectations and organizational targets on the one hand, and employees’ skills and health needs on the other, which is an essential and desirable combination for work organizations if they are to compete successfully in the modern 1 This paper was commissioned as part of a WHOsponsored initiative utilizing a common presentation framework.