The Nota 2000 (Health 2000 Memorandum), 25 years after

The Nota 2000 (Health 2000 Memorandum) has become one of the landmarks of public health in the Netherlands (1). It was the Dutch reaction to the WHO’s Health For All Targets and the Lalonde model. Important aspects were that it: proposed a new policy model with an initial examination of its implications, presented a detailed description of the health status of the population in 1986 and 2000 and made extensive use of health scenarios, included policy suggestions for short term health care problems, and suggested policies for high-priority issues such as ageing, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, accidents and the use of alcohol and tobacco. What has become of these thoughts, ideas and ambitions? This Spectrum looks back to the Nota willing to learn from it and the 25 years since the presentation of the Health 2000 Memorandum, with the aim of using these insights looking to current and future challenges in the public health in the Netherlands.

After an introducing summary by Jan Maarten Boot, Louise Gunning continues with a celebratory retrospective. Hans Saan draws lessons to be taken from the Nota and its reception to contemporary public health policy and work, while Marleen Bekker and Maria Jansen discuss the continuing emphasis on integral policy making. Yet another perspective on health and health policy is explored by Lenneke Vaandrager and Maria Koelen in their contribution from a more salutogenic standpoint. Erik Lieber ends this Spectrum with the summary of a virtual Nota 2025.