Foreword

The Global Conference on Health Promotion initiated by the World Health Organization(WHO)is the most important and authoritative international conferences in the field of health promotion. It has been held for 8 times between 1986 and 2013. These previous conferences have guided the global community to implement concepts and policies for health promotion, playing an important role in developing health policies and improving the environment and cultivating healthy behaviours, and made a great contribution to improving global health and health equity. Co-organized by the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People’s Republic of China(NHFPC)and WHO, the 9th Global Conference on Health Promotion was hosted by the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government in Shanghai, China during 21-24 November 2016. Thanks to the significant and excellent efforts of both WHO and the Chinese government in preparing the Conference, the extensive participation of relevant international organizations and member states as well as the wisdom and enthusiasm of the participants, the Conference is fruitful and highly praised by the international community.

This Conference has been highlighted as a milestone for advancing the development of theory and practice in global health promotion. With ‘Health Promotion in the Sustainable Development Goals’as the theme of the Conference, participants from various countries exchanged their exemplary experiences and specific practices in the exploration of theories, development of strategies, methodological studies and practical applications of health promotion. Participants from China also offered a full presentation of their achievements and experiences obtained in the field of health, well-being and health promotion. In addition, participants had an extensive and in-depth discussion on how to advance the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and how to achieve the sustainable development goals. Two key conference documents, the Shanghai Declaration on Health Promotion in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Shanghai Consensus on Healthy Cities, were developed and issued. The priority action areas for global health promotion were proposed for a period of time into the future.

The wide range of significant outcomes and abundant international experiences presented at the Conference will play a positive role in promoting the level of health promotion in each country, maintaining and ensuring people’s health and well-being, and enhancing sustainable socioeconomic development. Therefore, NHFPC entrusted the Chinese Center for Health Education to prepare a Compilation of Key Documents for the 9th Global Conference on Health Promotion, aiming to popularize the important achievements of this Conference, to provide guidance and information for carrying out health promotion and education, and offer study materials for healthcare workers in general.

This compilation provides an overview of the Conference and consists of speeches by top officials, key documents and the agenda of the Conference as well as output documents of previous conferences. The preparation of this compilation was supported and assisted by organizations and individuals, and we hereby express our appreciation to all of the contributors.

Due to the shortage of time for preparation, there may be omissions and errors. We welcome our readers to criticize and correct us.