How does the Ottawa Charter guide action to promote health and wellbeing?
The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion as a framework, its three strategies for action and five action areas, applied to the planning and evaluation of health promotion
VCE HHD Unit 3 AoS 2 on the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion - its three strategies and five action areas applied to health promotion.
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What this dot point is asking
This dot point asks you to know the Ottawa Charter framework, describe its three strategies and five action areas, and apply them by classifying real health promotion actions and evaluating campaigns. Application questions are common, so you must be able to match an action to the correct area.
The three strategies for action
- Advocate - acting to gain political, economic and social support, and to satisfy the prerequisites for health, so that health and wellbeing is on the agenda of decision makers.
- Enable - acting to reduce differences in health status and ensure equal opportunities and resources so all people can achieve their fullest health potential.
- Mediate - bringing together individuals, groups and sectors (such as governments, industry and the media) to work toward better health outcomes.
The five action areas
Build healthy public policy - decision makers create laws, rules and policies that support health, such as taxation on tobacco, mandatory seatbelt laws or banning junk food advertising to children.
Create supportive environments - making the physical and social environments in which people live, work and play more health-promoting, such as building bike paths, shade structures or smoke-free spaces.
Strengthen community action - working with and empowering communities to set priorities and take action on issues that matter to them, such as community-led local health programs.
Develop personal skills - providing education and information so people gain the knowledge and skills to make healthy decisions, such as school health education or cooking classes.
Reorient health services - moving the focus of the health system beyond treatment toward prevention and health promotion, such as a GP discussing physical activity rather than only treating illness.
Applying and evaluating
When you analyse a health promotion program, identify which action areas it uses, explain how each area contributes, and judge effectiveness against criteria such as reach, the determinants addressed and reductions in burden of disease. Many campaigns use several action areas at once, which strengthens them.
In exam responses, quote the exact action area name, link it to the specific feature of the campaign, and explain the health benefit it produces.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of VCAA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
2025 VCAA6 marksAccording to the AIHW, at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily is recommended for children aged 5 to 17, yet 83% of young people aged 15 to 17 did not meet this guideline in 2022.
Referring to two action areas of the Ottawa Charter, discuss how health promotion could address the low levels of physical activity among young Australians. (6 marks)
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Six marks: two action areas, each named and applied to increasing physical activity in young people (about 3 marks each).
Develop personal skills (about 3 marks): provide education and programs in schools that teach young people the benefits of activity and build skills and confidence in sport and active travel, so they choose to be more active.
Create supportive environments or reorient health services (about 3 marks): create supportive environments by building safe parks, bike paths and free or low-cost sporting facilities and offering active programs at school, making it easier and more appealing for young people to be active. Alternatively, build healthy public policy by funding school sport or limiting screen time in settings. Discuss means link each action area to a realistic change in activity levels, not just define it.
2023 VCAA6 marksSelect one condition shown in a graph (melanoma of the skin, road traffic injuries - motor vehicle occupants, or lung cancer). Referring to the information provided and your own understanding of the action areas of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, analyse the ways in which health promotion might bring about improvements in health status in Australia for your selected condition. (6 marks)
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Six marks: select one condition, then analyse using at least two action areas, linking each to improved health status (lower incidence, morbidity or mortality). Choose melanoma of the skin.
Build healthy public policy (about 2 marks): policies such as requiring shade in public spaces and regulating solariums reduce ultraviolet exposure, lowering melanoma incidence.
Develop personal skills (about 2 marks): SunSmart education teaches people to slip, slop, slap, seek and slide and to check their skin, so they reduce exposure and detect melanoma early, lowering mortality.
Create supportive environments (about 2 marks): providing shade structures, free sunscreen and hats at schools and pools makes sun protection the easy choice, reducing risk. Name each action area and connect it to a measurable improvement for the chosen condition.