Health 21 or Health21 is the name given to the World Health Organization

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...

 (WHO) Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an Region policy framework derived from the "health-for-all

Health For All

Health For All is a programming goal of the World Health Organization , which envisions securing the health and well being of people around the world that has been popularized since the 1970s...

 policy for the twenty-first century" passed by the World Health Assembly

World Health Assembly

The World Health Assembly is the forum through which the World Health Organization is governed by its 194 member states. It is the world's highest health policy setting body and is composed of health ministers from member states....

 in 1998. The framework was called "Health 21" not only because it dealt with health

Health

Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...

 in the 21st century, but also because it laid out 21 "targets" for improving the health of Europeans.

Targets

The Health 21 targets were:

1. "Solidarity for health in the European Region," or "closing the health gap between countries"
2. "Equity in health," or "closing the health gap within countries"
3. "Healthy start in life," for example "policies should... create a supportive family, with wanted children and good parenthood capacity"
4. "Health of young people," that is, "young people in the region should be healthier and better able to fulfil their roles in society"
5. "Healthy aging" as reflected in increases in life expectancy
   Life expectancy
   Life expectancy is the expected number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is denoted by ex, which means the average number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged x, according to a particular mortality experience...
   
   , disability-free life expectancy, and the proportion of older people who are healthy and at home
6. "Improving mental health
   Mental health
   Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...
   
   "
7. "Reducing communicable diseases"
8. "Reducing non-communicable disease
   Non-communicable disease
   A non-communicable disease, or NCD, is a medical condition or disease which is non-infectious. NCDs are diseases of long duration and generally slow progression. They include heart disease, stroke, cancer, asthma, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease, cataracts, and...
   
   s"
9. "Reducing injury
   Injury
   -By cause:*Traumatic injury, a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident*Other injuries from external physical causes, such as radiation injury, burn injury or frostbite*Injury from infection...
   
    from violence and accidents"
10. "A healthy and safe physical environment"
11. "Healthier living" such as "healthier behaviour in such fields as nutrition
    Nutrition
    Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....
    
    , physical activity and sexuality" and "increase in the availability, affordability and accessibility of safe and healthy food"
12. "Reducing harm from alcohol, drugs and tobacco"
13. "Settings for health," specifically, "people in the region should have greater opportunities to live in healthy physical and social environments at home, at school, at the workplace and in the local community"
14. "Multisectoral responsibility for health"
15. "An integrated health sector" with "better access to family- and community-oriented primary health care
    Primary health care
    Primary health care, often abbreviated as “PHC”, has been defined as "essential health care based on practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology made universally accessible to individuals and families in the community through their full participation and at a cost...
    
    , supported by a flexible and responsive hospital system"
16. "Managing for quality of care" by focusing on outcomes
17. "Funding health services and allocating resources," calling for "sustainable financing and resource allocation mechanisms for health care system
    Health care system
    A health care system is the organization of people, institutions, and resources to deliver health care services to meet the health needs of target populations....
    
    s based on the principles of equal access, cost–effectiveness, solidarity, and optimum quality"
18. "Developing human resources for health
    Health Human Resources
    Health human resources — also known as “human resources for health” or “health workforce” — is defined as “all people engaged in actions whose primary intent is to enhance health”, according to the World Health Organization's World Health Report 2006. Human resources for health are identified as...
    
    " to ensure that health professionals and others "have acquired appropriate knowledge, attitudes and skills to protect and promote health"
19. "Research and knowledge for health": "health research, information and communication systems" should "better support the acquisition, effective utilization, and dissemination of knowledge"
20. "Mobilizing partners for health," including governments, professionals, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, and individual citizens
21. "Policies and strategies for health for all
    Health For All
    Health For All is a programming goal of the World Health Organization , which envisions securing the health and well being of people around the world that has been popularized since the 1970s...
    
    " at "country, regional and local levels"

See also

• Health policy
• Health promotion
  Health promotion
  Health promotion has been defined by the World Health Organization's 2005 Bangkok Charter for Health Promotion in a Globalized World as "the process of enabling people to increase control over their health and its determinants, and thereby improve their health"...
  
  
  • Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion
    Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion
    The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion is the name of an international agreement signed at the First International Conference on Health Promotion, organized by the World Health Organization and held in Ottawa, Canada, in November 1986...
    
    
  • Bangkok Charter
    Bangkok Charter
    The Bangkok Charter for Health Promotion in a Globalized World is the name of an international agreement reached among participants of the 6th Global Conference on Health Promotion held in Bangkok, Thailand in August 2005, convened by the World Health Organization...
    
    
  • Jakarta Declaration
    Jakarta Declaration
    The Jakarta Declaration on Leading Health Promotion into the 21st Century is the name of an international agreement that was signed at the World Health Organization's 1997 Fourth International Conference on Health Promotion held in Jakarta...
    
    
• Primary health care
  Primary health care
  Primary health care, often abbreviated as “PHC”, has been defined as "essential health care based on practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology made universally accessible to individuals and families in the community through their full participation and at a cost...
  
  
  • Health for all
    Health For All
    Health For All is a programming goal of the World Health Organization , which envisions securing the health and well being of people around the world that has been popularized since the 1970s...
    
    
  • Alma Ata Declaration
    Alma Ata Declaration
    The Declaration of Alma-Ata was adopted at the International Conference on Primary Health Care , Almaty , currently in Kazakhstan, 6-12 September 1978. It expressed the need for urgent action by all governments, all health and development workers, and the world community to protect and promote the...
    
    
• Public health
  Public health
  Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
  
  
  • Healthy city
    Healthy city
    Healthy city is a term used in public health and urban design to stress the impact of policy on human health. Its modern form derives from a World Health Organization initiative on Healthy Cities and Villages in 1986, but has a history dating back to the mid 19th century...
    
    

Further reading

• Department of Health (1999) Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation. London: DoH.
• WHO (1999) Reducing inequalities in health. Copenhagen: WHO.