Knowledge management for new public health promotion

Abstract

New public health and new health promotion have become familiar concepts in public health. ‘New’ refers to a determined effort and change in attitude to bring about a definite innovation and improvement in the methods to meet the greatest challenge for public health at the moment: to reach a healthier lifestyle that matches the needs and desires of new and coming generations of youngsters, adults and seniors.

This Spectrum of opinions of public health experts argues that for new health promotion new forms of knowledge management are needed. Practice, research and policy should be brought together and practitioners, researchers and policy makers should work together in the development, sharing, evaluating and use of knowledge. In the Netherlands this working together recently got a new impuls, amongst others by setting up nine Academic workplaces in which public health practitioners got a part time appointment at public health departments of universities and where problems of practice form the starting point for research projects.

With contributions of Saan, De Haes, De Regt, Mootz, Halbertsma, Van Bolhuis, Ruwaard, Molleman, Van Dale, Witte, Van Sonderen, Keijsers.

Key words: health promotion, knowledge management, practice and research