Health Promotion: Ten Years On from the Ottawa Charter

Abstract

Good morning all, and a warm hello! It's a treat to be here in Hobart with a roomful of dedicated and compassionate souls, bringing a warmth of collegiality to the chill of an almost Canadian winter. I emphasise the almost. How many of you have every walked a dog in minus 50 degree weather. Weather that's so damn invigorating that if you survive it you immediately shuffle off in gratitude to Ottawa, the nation's capital, and cheerfully spend a week writing the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion; the small-typed Canadian version of which includes as one of the basic health prerequisites electrical plug-ins for engine blocks to prevent the oil freezing?