|
 Under the umbrella of “Healthy Thailand,” the
Ministry of Public Health initiated nine programme/project
approaches. These are: Child Development, School Children in
Health Promoting
Schools, Healthy Families for
Healthy Thailand, Healthy
Cities, Physical
Activity and Diet for Health, Reproductive Health, Food Safety, Healthy
Public Toilet, and Healthy Elderly. Several health promotion programmes, campaigns and initiatives have been launched
in different parts of the country with either targeted messages or target
groups.
While
there is adequate infrastructure within the MOPH to
implement health promotion practices and policies through 12 Regional Health
Promotion Centres and 75 Provincial Public Health
Offices, the biggest challenge is to establish effective collaboration and
partnerships with other sectors outside the MOPH.
These include the Ministries of Education, Interior, Social Development and
Security, and Agriculture and Cooperatives; as well as NGOs and civil society.
Although
the MOPH has a limited budget for developing health
promotion, substantial support is being provided by the Thailand Health
Promotion Foundation, established by the 2001 Health Promotion Foundation
Act. Two per cent of the excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol, or about US$ 55
million annually, has been allocated as revenue for
the Foundation, which serves as a catalyst for health promotion activities.
The Foundation is supervised by a governing board chaired by a deputy prime
minister.
In August
2005, the Sixth Global Conference on Health Promotion which yielded the
Bangkok Charter for Health Promotion was organised
in Bangkok, Thailand. Thailand is
in the process of implementing the Bangkok Charter actions and commitments
with WHO support.
|
|
