Promoción de la salud. A diez años de Otawa

¿Salud, mercancía o derecho social?

Abstract

Back in 1986 the Letter of Ottawa emphasized health promotion as a strategy to augment social responsibilities in the construction of healthy environments, universal opportunities to choose healthy ways of living, and the development of human capacities to implement healthy decisions. However, in the "global supermarket" that the contemporary world seems to have become; health promotion has been interpreted as an advertisement of "healthy life styles" individually consumed by people with purchase capacity. Subordinating well being into market relations it seems that to be and to stay healthy, healthy life styles should be consumed. This view of health promotion is substantial to the health privatization process that is occurring in Latin America. But health promotion can also be a transforming practice of the living conditions of social groups. An impelling force to look for equity and social well being when considering health as an expression of the optimum joy of life for everybody. To archive this goal the whole society should make a commitment and join the struggle toward this effort. This text analyses diverse conceptual points of view in the search of a construction of a new health culture