Das Gesundheitswesen
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Das Gesundheitswesen · Jan 2010
[Promoting instead of controlling health--lessons learned, lessons to learn].
Health promotion, as laid down in the Ottawa Charta by the World Health Organisation, embraces the call for self-responsibility. Self-responsibility, however, is not merely directed towards apparently personal risk factors. The Ottawa Charta clearly puts health in a wider societal context and follows the line of early social medicine, which, as Virchow put it, understood politics as medicine on a large scale. ⋯ At the same time a resurgence of expert-led prevention strategies could be observed. Recently, however, the discussion on self-responsibility appears to be regaining societal aspects. The task on hand is, to support this societal approach to health whilst at the same time to ensure the field of health promotion does not overstretch itself.
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Das Gesundheitswesen · Jan 2010
[Prevention of overweight and obesity--the role of government, the food industry and the individual].
Obesity is a growing health problem in Germany and other industrial nations. There is an urgent need for action in order to stop this development. Government and food industry, as well as individuals, have to act. ⋯ Each individual holds a personal responsibility for his or her health, but there are limits to it, like social, financial, biological, and other environmental factors. Especially social factors ought to be considered more seriously. Hence, personal responsibility should only be demanded in an adequate environment.