2018/09/27 2017 Taipei Statement On Capacity Building for Health Promotion

Taipei Medical University in collaboration with Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare hosted the Asia Pacific Health Promotion Capacity Building Forum and The 1st APACPH Taiwan Regional Conference at Taipei Medical University on September 8th, 2017.  This forum had attracted near 200 participants and was able to invited distinguished scholars and government officials from Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Australia to have face-to-face discussion with our local Ministry of Health Representatives and Public Health scholars.  The goal was to strengthen the capacity for training the Health Promotion Workers and make such training sustainable.    In order to emphasize the importance Asia Pacific Health Promotion Capacity Building, the key participants including Dr. Wang-Yin Wei (Director General of Health Promotion), Dr. Hung-Yi Chiou (APACPH Vice President of Finance), Dr. Betty Ya-Wen Chiu (APACPH Taiwan Regional Director), Dr. Masamine Jimba (President of APACPH), Dr. Wah-Yun Low (APACPH President elect), Dr. Bruce Maycock (APACPH Secretary General), Dr. Maznah Binti Dahlui (APACPH Vice President of Administration), Dr. Indika Karunathilake (APACPH South Asia Regional Director), Dr. Kwanjai Amnatsatsue from Thailand, Dr. Chia Kee Seng (APACPH Vice President 1), Dr. Agustin Kusumayati (APACPH Regional Director of Indonesia), several APACPH regional directors, official representatives and special guests all gathered together at Taipei Medical University on September 8th, 2017 to take the oath and sign the "Taipei Statement".  The content of the "Taipei Statement" is shown as below:
 
We, the participants, on September 8, 2017, gathered in Taipei, Taiwan, for the Asia-Pacific Health Promotion Capacity Building Forum collectively recognize that sustaining a healthy society requires strong leadership and commitment of resources from governments, communities, nongovernmental organizations, and educational institutions. It is important to build and sustain strong human capacity with core competencies in health promotion and related disciplines. With this level of national commitment, we can effectively implement and institutionalize health promotion with intersectoral collaboration to provide “health for all.” To make healthy choices, an enabling environment is essential for growth and development, ensuring that no one is left behind. We believe initiatives founded upon population-based health promotion play a pivotal role in the success of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. We believe that countries, cities, communities, and corporations with higher levels of health promotion capacity will achieve higher levels of human health and social development. Therefore, the institutions represented here will establish a mutual learning platform and continue education programs to address capacity building issues in health promotion.
 
We commit to identifying areas to build human capacity in the core competencies of health promotion and global public health, as well as developing and sharing curriculum for training. The core competencies include the following:
 
1. Leadership and governance ability to lead the establishment and maintain sustainability of health
    promotion programs in community and institutional settings
 
2. Health promotion program planning, implementation, and evaluation
 
3. Understanding the interconnectedness and interrelationship of health issues that require strategic
    intersectoral cooperation with the aim of promoting optimal health and appropriate levels of fitness
    for all
 
4. Embracing cultural sensitivity in health promotion program planning and implementation
 
5. Advocacy, communication, and social marketing skills to advocate for systemic change in social
    norms and infrastructure needed to build supporting environments for overall health
 
6. Demonstrating organizational engagement in planning health promotion programs and their
    implementation
 
Countries, cities, communities, and corporations differ widely in their capacity for health promotion. We acknowledge the importance for the health sector to build partnerships based on common objectives and joint ownership with other sectors to promote public policies that enable healthy behavior. We advocate strategic and operational discussions on health promotion issues at the national, city, community, and corporate levels.
 
With this Taipei Statement, we, the Forum participants, pledge to institutionalize health promotion policies and practices in all sectors through sustainable action and to continue investment in developing the workforce and building human capacity with core health promotion competencies.