Health Promotion – Historical Development, Theoretical Basis and Practical Application

The objective of this work is to present in a systematic way the historical processes that led to the development by the World Health Organization (WHO) of the Health Promotion concept, the essence of the concept and the theoretical basis that are widely used today when planning, implementing and evaluating health promotion initiatives, the practical realization of the health promotion program for the last 30 years in the world and within the Bulgarian context in order to answer the questions: Is Health Promotion working? And Does it make a difference? The work is structured in four main chapters: 1. Historical development and essence of the health promotion concept. 2. Theoretical basis for the planning, implementation and evaluation of health promotion initiatives and programs. 3. Practical realization of health promotion programs – the success of the settings-based approach. 4. Health promotion diffusion within the Bulgarian context. The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion is used as a basic framework for discussion.