The first international conference on health promotion was held in Ottawa, Canada in 1986. At that conference, the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion was launched. Building healthy public policy is one of the five strategies on health promotion.
The aim of health policy is to create a supportive environment to enable people to lead healthy lives. Such a policy makes health choices possible or easier for citizens. It makes social and physical environments health-enhancing. The policy makers should be accountable for the health consequences of their policy decisions. They should pay as much attention to health as to economic considerations.
Healthy public policy is not necessary to be formulated by the government. The 2007 National Health Act opens a space for all parties – government, local government, bureaucrats, politicians, NGOs, private sector, academic, media, community and individual - to take part in developing a healthy public policy.
Stipulated in the National Health Act, health assembly and health impact assessment are the key processes of developing a healthy public policy. In fact, there are other mechanisms and processes as follows.