Health Promotion Forum
Health Promoting Universities as settings for health and well-being
Moderator: Prof Stephan van den Broucke, UCLouvain
Speakers:
- Marc Dooris, University of Central Lancaster (UK)
- Matt Dolf, University of Britsh Columbia, Canda
- Monica Suarez-Reyes, Universidad de Santiago de Chile
- Rajiv Yeravdekar, Symbiosis International University, India
Organised by International Health Promoting Universities & Colleges Network
Universities represent a valuable setting to improve health and well-being, both as “campuses as living laboratories” for their communities, and as agents of change in broader society. To promote the health and well-being of people and planet, a comprehensive settings and “whole university” approach across operations and academia is needed. Inspired by this approach, the Health Promoting Universities (HPU) initiative was launched in the mid-90s with numerous national and regional networks developing worldwide since. An important milestone was the creation of the international Okanagan Charter for Health Promoting Universities & Colleges in 2015. Uptake is growing, yet as universities across the globe operate in different cultural, economic, political and societal contexts, the implementation of the HPU principles outlined in the Charter can be fundamentally different. This session will look at learnings from implementation in different parts of the world and conditions for successful HPU initiatives.