Advocacy crucial for effective public health practice

Advocacy is a crucial part of public health practice and plays an important role in improving health and reducing health inequalities. Advocacy is a vital component in the Ottawa Charter, which specifies putting health on the agenda of policy makers in all sectors and at all levels. Recommendations from a recent report from the Ministry of Health include ceasing to use the word advocacy in contracts and substituting a precise statement of the services being purchased. The report says "advocacy falls into the middle ground between information and lobbying, in that NGOs may wish to position their advice, that is to advocate for or against a particular approach. There is a narrow line in a political context between advocacy and lobbying...It is the issue of advocacy that can draw the ministry close to the area of lobbying." The PHA, representatives of other NGOs, the Faculty of Public Health Medicine, and the Public Health Leaders Group of PHUs, met Director General Karen Poutasi following the release of the report. They argued that it would be better to have a definition of lobbying rather than the removal of the word advocacy. They pointed out the word advocacy should be able to used in health contracts because it is explicitly used in legislation in relation to the Children's Commissioner, Family Commission, and Creative NZ. This article provides further information.