Abstract
The Ottawa Charter has been adopted in many countries as a model for their health promotion policies which emphasize community participation. Mexico has developed a method for evaluating its
progress in implementing health promotion policies, and has developed a national policy on health promotion,
called Health Promotion Operation Model (MOPS,) which is based on the Charter and consists of
several components: management of personal determinants, health capacity-building, community participation,
development of a healthy environment, social marketing in health, and evidence in health
promotion. Sweden, a welfare state, developed its National Public Health Policy in 2003 with the main
aim of providing societal conditions for good health on equal terms for the entire population. It has 11
objectives which consider only the determinants of health. Interestingly, Pettersson summarized the evolution
of Swedish local authority in dealing with health promotion into “The Health Promotion Staircase
for Building Local Capacity”, which could be beneficial in the development of LAOs in Thailand. In New
Zealand, the Local Government Act of 2002 was passed which clearly defined the roles and responsibilities
of the central and local governments according to the risk-specialization model. Furthermore, to enhance
the role of the community, a long-term council community plan must be developed in line with the
expected ‘community outcome’ in order to improve community living conditions and address their health
concerns.
