Achieving health for all people - Whakatutuki te oranga hauora mo nga tangata katoa: A framework for pubic health action for the New Zealand Health Strategy

This plan is the public health sector’s response to the New Zealand Health Strategy. The New Zealand Health Strategy has asked for public health and population approaches to be at the centre of health sector activity. This document is the considered thinking of the public health sector in response to this strategic challenge. Public health makes a difference when society collectively moves on an issue. The basis of effective public health action is not a single service or intervention, but the organised efforts of society itself. This framework for public health action outlines the role the public health sector can play. The public health sector is small, so its influence is not due to its size, but its ability to work effectively across society in the pursuit of improved health for all people. Five objectives are identified. Each will challenge existing public health practice. The objectives of leadership in public health and public health action across the whole health sector will require public health services to move more boldly into the mainstream of health services, to advocate for and energise population approaches. Promotion of healthy communities and environments will assist in moving the focus from individual risks and behaviour into the nature of the community and the environment in which we live. The focus on research and evaluation, and an outcomes focus, will provide the disciplines required for effective action. Also see rec # 6151.