Support for a hypothetical sugar-sweetened beverage tax in Taiwan.

Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are drinks that contain added sugar or sweeteners and provide calories with no additional nutrients, and some countries have imposed additional taxes on the SSBs to reduce consumption, which is considered an SSB tax policy. This study used a cross-sectional online survey to examine the patterns of public support for an SSB tax in Taiwan. The sample included 1617 adults aged ≥ 20 years, who answered the survey questionnaire between May 2020 and April 2021. The respondents were recruited using convenience sampling, but sampling weights were applied to represent the Taiwanese population. Generalized ordered logit models with sampling weights were used to examine the correlates of public support for an SSB tax. Results showed that ~60% of the respondents supported the SSB tax and 47% perceived the tax to be effective. The respondents who were aware of the perceived health risks of SSBs or those who believed that one should be partly responsible for the health impact of SSBs were more likely to show support for the SSB tax. In adjusted regression models, both one's perceived risk and perceived responsibility of SSBs were positively associated with the perceived effectiveness of the SSB tax after sociodemographic characteristics were controlled. These research findings show evidence that there is public support for implementing an SSB tax to reduce SSB consumption in Taiwan.

Developing a health promoting university in Trinity College Dublin-overview and outline process evaluation.

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have the potential to impact positively on the health and wellbeing of their staff and students. Using and expanding on the 'health promoting university' (HPU) platform within HEIs, this article provides a description of 'Healthy Trinity', which is an initiative underway in Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin. First, Healthy Trinity is contextualized in background literature including international and national policy and practice. Second, an overview of Healthy Trinity is provided including its vision and goals. Third, the article describes the steps taken relating to the identification of stakeholders and use of a network and a co-lead model. Within this approach, the article describes a partnership approach whereby responsibilities regarding health and wellbeing are shared by individuals and the institution. Fourth, the design and implementation of Healthy Trinity is discussed by taking a 'settings approach', in which the emphasis for change is placed on individual behaviours, environment, policy and organizational culture. Consideration is given to the interplay between intervention, implementation strategy and context for successful systemic implementation. The fifth element presented is the early-stage challenges encountered during implementation, such as the need to secure recurrent funding and the importance of having a direct input to the governance of the University to enable systemic change. The sixth and final component of the article is an outline of Healthy Trinity's intention to utilize a process evaluation of the early implementation phases of this complex intervention within a settings approach. Potential deliverables and impacts of this HPU initiative are presented and discussed.

Universities, such as Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin, can be looked at as a community of staff and students. The university community has needs in terms of health and wellbeing. 'Healthy Trinity' attempted to build strategies and practices to meet these needs for its community. The approach taken was from multiple angles and involved students and staff, focusing on both individual and organizational responsibility to promote and encourage healthy behaviours. Healthy Trinity achieved some successes as well as encountering some challenges. This article explores how the university might build upon the successes of Healthy Trinity in order to embed a culture which prioritizes health and wellbeing for the entire university community. The article also looks at the broader impact of achieving this goal, namely the University's contribution to a healthier community beyond the university setting.

Fatal drowning in Indonesia: understanding knowledge gaps through a scoping review.

Little is known about unintentional drowning deaths in Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous and largest archipelagic country. This study aimed to describe the epidemiology and risk factors of unintentional drowning in Indonesia and explore existing health promotion and drowning prevention approaches in Indonesia within a socio-ecological health promotion framework. A scoping review, guided by PRISMA-ScR, was conducted to locate peer-reviewed studies and government reports/policy documents published until May 2023, in English or Indonesian language, using MEDLINE (Ovid), CINAHL, Informit, PsycINFO (ProQuest), Scopus, SafetyLit, BioMed Central and Google Scholar, Indonesian journal databases (Sinta, Garuda) and government agencies websites around the terms: drown, swim, flood, hurricane, cyclone, disaster, water rescue and maritime/boat safety. This review identified 32 papers. However, a paucity of information on unintentional drowning rates, risk factors and prevention in Indonesia was noted. The unavailability of a coordinated national drowning data collection system in Indonesia, from which national and subnational subcategory data can be collected, underlines the possibility of under-representation of drowning mortality. The association between various exposures and drowning incidents has not been fully investigated. An over-reliance on individual-focused, behaviour-based, preventive measures was observed. These findings highlight the need for improving drowning surveillance to ensure the availability and reliability of drowning data; and strengthening research to understand the risk factors for drowning and delivery of drowning prevention programs. Further policy development and research focusing on health promotion approaches that reflect a socio-ecological approach to drowning prevention in Indonesia is imperative.

Law and urban governance for health in times of rapid change.

Governance is an important factor in urban health, and law is an important element of healthy governance. Law can be an intervention local government wields to influence behavior and shape environments. Law can also be an important target of health promotion efforts: Law and the enforcement and implementation behaviors it fosters can promote unhealthy behaviors and environmental conditions, and can act as a barrier to healthy interventions or practices. Finally, law is a design and construction tool for the organization of governance. Law is the means through which cities are formally established. Their powers and duties, organizational structure, boundaries and decision-making procedures are all set by law. Regardless of the form of government, cities have legal levers they can manipulate for health promotion. Cities can use tax authority to influence the price of unhealthy products, or to encourage consumption of healthy foods. Cities can use their legal powers to address incidental legal effects of policies that they themselves cannot control. Cities may also have the authority to use law to address deeper determinants of health. The overall level of income or wealth inequality in a country reflects factors well-beyond a local government's control, but city government nonetheless has levers to directly and indirectly reduce economic and social inequality and their effects. A renewed focus on law and urban governance is the key to assuring health and well-being and closing the health equity gap.

'Sweet talk': framing the merits of a sugar tax in Australia.

Although rising rates of obesity are recognized as a major concern for Australian public health, debate on what (if any) responsive action should be undertaken is conceptually and normatively complex. It is shaped by diverse values and interests; different representations of the problem; and many options for action by government, the private sector or individuals. This paper presents research documenting arguments for and against implementing a sugar tax in Australia. It is based on semi-structured interviews with representatives from industry (n = 4), public health (n = 4), policy think tanks (n = 2); and document and media analyses. The research design was informed by framing and agenda setting theory with results reported under four main themes: framing economic impacts, framing equity, framing obesity and framing the 'nanny state' versus individual liberty argument. We found that proposals for a sugar tax as part of policy responses to the issue of overweight and obesity in Australia are framed very differently by actors who either support or oppose it. A conclusion is that policy makers and public health advocates involved in policy debates on a sugar tax need to understand the role of problem and 'solution' framing, and develop positions based on protecting the public interest as a basic ethical responsibility of governments and public agencies.

Appetite for change? Facilitators and barriers to nutrition guideline implementation in Canadian recreational facilities.

As providers of community-based physical activity programs, recreation and sports facilities serve as an important resource for health promotion. Unfortunately, the food environments within these settings often do not reflect healthy eating guidelines. This study sought to describe facilitators and barriers to implementing provincial nutrition guidelines in recreation and sports facilities in three Canadian provinces with nutrition guidelines. Semi-structured interviews were analysed thematically to identify facilitators and barriers to implementing provincial nutrition guidelines. Facilitators and barriers were then categorised using a modified "inside out" socio-ecological model that places health-related and other social environments at the centre. A total of 32 semi-structured interviews were conducted at two time-points across the three guideline provinces. Interview participants included recreation staff managers, facility committee or board members and recreation volunteers. Eight facilitators and barriers were identified across five levels of the inside out socio-ecological model. Facilitators included provincial or municipal expectations of guideline implementation, clear communication to staff around guideline directives and the presence of a champion within the community or facility who supported guideline implementation. Barriers included unhealthy food culture within community, competition from other food providers and issues within food service contracts that undermined healthy food provision. Findings reinforce the importance of top down (clear expectations regarding guideline implementation at the time of approval) and bottom up (need for buy-in from multiple stakeholders) approaches to ensure successful implementation of nutrition guidelines. The application of a modified socio-ecological model allowed for a more nuanced understanding of leverage points to support successful guideline implementation. Lay summary Healthy eating is an important behaviour for preventing chronic diseases. Supporting people to access healthy foods in places where they live, learn, work or play is a public health priority. Recreation and sports facilities are a setting where people can be physically active. Unfortunately, the food environment in these settings may not reflect nutrition guidelines. In this study, we interviewed key stakeholders from recreation and sports facilities in three Canadian provinces who had put guidelines for healthy eating in place. We used a specific framework to do this called the inside out socio-ecological model. Eight facilitators and barriers were identified using this model. Facilitators included provincial or municipal expectations of guideline implementation, clear communication to staff around guideline directives and the presence of a champion within the community or facility who supported guideline implementation. Barriers included unhealthy food culture within community, competition from other food providers and issues within food service contracts that undermined healthy food provision. Our findings can help people working in recreation and sports facilities to identify issues that may help or hinder healthy food provision in these settings.

Policymakers' perspectives on designing school-based health initiatives for Victorian adolescents.

Initiatives based on the Health Promoting Schools (HPS) framework have previously been successful in improving health and well-being yet there is little evidence of how these findings translate into policy. This study therefore aimed to analyse the political considerations that underpinned policymakers' decisions for the design and implementation of a programme based on HPS in middle and high schools in Victoria, Australia. Interpretive policy analysis was undertaken using interviews with a purposive sample of government and non-government policy actors. Interviews explored factors influencing programme design and implementation and were analysed using thematic analysis. Ten in-depth interviews, including 11 participants, were conducted. The analysis revealed four themes. The Achievement Program was designed through (i) the establishment of strategic collaborations and good governance, involving people that made valuable and diverse contributions to the design process while acknowledging their (ii) positions of power, (iii) ensuring careful attention was paid to evidence-informed programme design and (iv) incorporation of real-time feedback from other settings. Policymakers believe this approach has the potential to improve policy adoption. There is a need to explore if this approach to policy development influences adherence and improves health outcomes.

Matrix of essential competencies in health promotion: a proposal for the Brazilian context.

The article presents a Matrix of Essential Competencies in Health Promotion, directed to the context of Brazilian health professionals (CompEPS). It is a methodological study, carried out from September 2017 to March 2018. The validation of the matrix was guided by the Delphi methodology, by electronic means, and the use of the Google Forms tool. Thirty-nine professors of Higher Education Institutions, with representation from all regions of the country, composed the panel of experts. The initial material that triggered the preparation of the Matrix was the European document originating from the Developing Competencies and Professional Standards for Health Promotion Capacity Building in Europe (CompHP) project, being analyzed in two rounds. The items were agreed when they reached the minimum of 80% agreement among the panelists. After obtaining a consensus regarding its content and textual clarity, the CompEPS Matrix was outlined in 45 core competencies grouped in nine domains, incorporating principles and foundations of Brazilian health policies and aligned with the documents guiding the health formative processes, conferring singularity and directed to the daily life of the actions carried out in collective health by professionals in Brazil. It is considered that the CompEPS Matrix will contribute to the qualification of the training in health and the certification of the competencies for the actions effectively promoters of health, carried out by the professionals in their diverse scenarios of performance.

Adherence to components of Health Promoting Schools in schools of Bengaluru, India.

Schools provide a crucial platform for health promotion as the school years are a vital stage in one's life, where lifelong general and oral health-related behaviours are developed and established. The components of Health Promoting Schools (HPSs) suggested by World Health Organization provide guidance for facilitating health promotion within this setting. This study aimed to assess the adherence to the components of HPSs amongst schools in Bengaluru, India utilizing a comprehensive tool developed for the purpose. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among randomly selected 61 schools. Data were collected through structured interviews with the head of the schools, direct observation of school premises and verification of records. The significant findings of the study were that 80.3% of the schools had proper ventilation and separate washrooms for boys and girls, 83.6 and 88.5% of the schools had natural light and adequate water supply correspondingly. Only 39.3% of the schools had washrooms that were cleaned daily, and 55.7% of the schools were in proximity to business that sold tobacco products. Oral health education was not integrated into the curriculum in 39.3% of the schools, and 29.5% of the schools had no playgrounds. The study tool appeared to be sensitive in identifying the finer components of HPSs, indicating the lack of strict adherence to the components of HPSs in Bengaluru. This information can be utilized to design appropriate interventions at micro, meso and macro level to strengthen the capacity of schools for the attainment of health promotion.

Exploring challenges, threats and innovations in global health promotion.

Global health faces a broad spectrum of old and new challenges. Besides epidemiological problems, political conflicts, economic crisis and austerity policies are jeopardizing progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC), affecting the most vulnerable populations. During the 22nd International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) World Conference on Health Promotion held in Curitiba, Brazil, in 2016, challenges and threats for global health, in addition to a wide range of innovative experiences in health promotion, were discussed with participants from 65 countries. At the end of the conference, a public statement was approved claiming for Democracy and Human Rights in all countries around the world as essential conditions for the promotion of health and equity. In this paper, we explore challenges, threats and innovations in global health promotion. We use scientific literature, analysis of the current situation of the Brazilian health system, and material presented during the 22nd IUHPE World Conference. Also, we discuss strategies to strengthen health systems, policies and practices through the approach of STI and illustrative local experiences presented at the congress mentioned above, including examples developed in the city of Curitiba. We conclude that STI is crucial to support strengthening local health systems, design effective intersectoral public policies, scaling up innovative initiates, and skilling staff in addressing the contemporary challenges. Finally, the Declaration of the 22nd World Conference on Health Promotion of the IUHPE is a fundamental policy statement based on the prioritization of democracy and human rights as essential conditions for the promotion of health and equity.

Social innovation for the promotion of health equity.

The role of social innovations in transforming the lives of individuals and communities has been a source of popular attention in recent years. This article systematically reviews the available evidence of the relationship between social innovation and its promotion of health equity. Guided by Fair Foundations: The VicHealth framework for health equity and examining four types of social innovation--social movements, service-related social innovations, social enterprise and digital social innovations--we find a growing literature on social innovation activities, but inconsistent evaluative evidence of their impacts on health equities, particularly at the socio-economic, political and cultural level of the framework. Distinctive characteristics of social innovations related to the promotion of health equity include the mobilization of latent or unrealised value through new combinations of (social, cultural and material) resources; growing bridging social capital and purposeful approaches to linking individual knowledge and experience to institutional change. These have implications for health promotion practice and for research about social innovation and health equity.

Fiscal incentives, behavior change and health promotion: what place in the health-in-all-policies toolkit?

Taxes, subsidies and welfare benefits may provide financial incentives to encourage healthy behaviors or discourage less healthy ones. Historically, taxes have been used in many countries to deter behaviors like tobacco smoking or harmful alcohol use. More recently, an increasing number of governments have sought to expand the scope for the use of fiscal measures in health promotion to foods and beverages high in fat, salt or sugar. A strong public health rationale, supported by a growing body of evidence of the health impacts of taxes and other fiscal measures, adds to the more traditional rationale for the use of commodity taxes, which hinges on their revenue-generating potential and their ability to address the costs imposed by consumers of health-related commodities on other individuals. Despite limitations in the existing evidence base, reviewed in this paper, taxes have been shown to generate significant health gains when applied to tobacco products and alcoholic beverages. In the case of foods and non-alcoholic beverages, the effects tend to build up over time and are stronger in people with lower socio-economic status. However, a number of potentially undesirable effects suggest that governments should exercise caution in planning and implementing taxes on health-related commodities. In particular, commodity taxes are generally regressive, and this is especially the case for taxes on tobacco, foods and non-alcoholic beverages, although the actual size of the tax burden involved is relatively modest. In addition, taxes may negatively impact on economic efficiency and social welfare, and may incentivize illicit activities.

Enabling the powerful? Participatory action research with local policymakers and professionals for physical activity promotion with women in difficult life situations.

Enabling is a concept central to health promotion. It is perceived as a mechanism that can help people gain control over determinants of health. Little is known, however, about enabling among policy-makers and professionals. This case study investigates enabling among policy-makers and professionals who engaged in a specific participatory approach, cooperative planning. We define 'enabling' as creating action situations that allow policy-makers and professionals to (i) build individual capacities for health promotion and to (ii) apply these capacities to concrete organizational and political action at the institutional level. This case study followed policy-makers and professionals as they participated in a local physical activity promotion action research project in Germany. We conducted a secondary analysis of qualitative data gathered in that project (2005-2011). Methods included participant observation, document analysis, focus groups and qualitative interviews. All data were revisited for the case study and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Findings include examples of enabling among policy-makers and professionals related to the cooperative planning process. Individual capacities were developed in perceived project roles, interactions with target groups and decision-making procedures. Findings also demonstrated municipal policy changes. Access to physical activity infrastructures improved, and an intersectoral job position was funded to support physical activity promotion among target group participants. Findings were analyzed using a model that links cooperative planning with a framework on policy change from a political science perspective. We conclude that cooperative planning might be a pathway to negotiated agreements that foster systematic enabling and health-promoting policy change.

The health-promotion perspective in public-health plans in a Swedish region over three decades.

The trend away from a health and medical care-based policy to a healthy public policy has taken place in Sweden rather later than in other West European countries. One of the first county councils to establish health-promotion plans was Västernorrland. The aims of this study are to describe the contents of and analyze the changes over time in the five public-health plans in the county. The object of study for the policy analysis consists in these plans between 1978 and 2004. A deductive thematic content analysis was performed for each plan on the basis of the central determinants of health promotion. The positioning of the plans was determined using a theoretical framework (Beattie's modified model) founded in the dimensions of power (individual and collective) and governance (local, i.e. the municipalities, and central, i.e. the county council). The results show that the value attributed to good health was consistently high, but the means for attaining this goal have varied over time. The policy focus of the measures in the plans have taken a cyclical path--from individual empowerment to empowerment from a societal perspective, and back prioritizing of actions at an individual level. On the governance dimension, there has been a corresponding positional change over time--from regional to local and then back to regional. Promoting the health of a population requires mutual interaction between the regional and local levels, in which both societal and individually oriented actions are prioritized.