Explanatory notes on Guiding Concepts of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

Glossary of concepts, strategies and methods in health promotion and Disease Prevention

Health promotion is a complex and interdisciplinary field of action. For a fruitful collaboration, all persons involved need to agree on shared technical terms, concepts and courses of action which overcome the thresholds of single professional disciplines. Without such shared understanding, misunderstandings are inevitable, and pursuing shared goals together is more difficult.

Hence, since 1993, the German Federal Centre for Health Education (German: Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung) develops and publishes a glossary of health promotion and disease prevention keywords. The glossary contains explanations of core concepts in the field and provides an integrated overview of current scientific and political debates on the topic in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

A growing demand for - and interest in - sharing scientific and practical knowledge and experiences across the borders of countries and languages arises from the advancing globalization and the “digital revolution” with its new ways to communicate. The Federal Centre for Health Education aims to encourage and facilitate this exchange and to make the interpretation of strategies, methods and concepts in German-speaking countries visible and comprehensible.