Frameworks that shape the way we think about health
This article is part of the introduction to a panel on ‘reimagining health’ held for Progress 2026.
Everything that we advocate for across our movements and organisations contributes to advancing our health and wellbeing.
This includes secure housing, education, First Nations Justice, employment, a sustainable climate, human rights, peace, and equity in all of its forms.
For the next hour I am inviting you to be part of our public health movement because as people working across our sector and engaging in advocacy – you are already advocating for our health and wellbeing.
I want to start by taking you on a journey of how we’ve thought about health over the past 80 years.
Before you sigh – I promise this is actually very exciting.
To do this, we need to travel through time.
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Let me take you back to 1948. The number one song in Australia is ‘Good-Night Mister Moon’ by Allan Ryan and William Flynn.
This same year, the World Health Organization endorsed their constitution, which defined health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.’
Also saying that ‘the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.’
This was 80 years ago. At the time WHO was effectively talking about wellbeing. This was well before it became a buzzword on Instagram and Tik Tok.
Come with me to 1978. The number one song in Australia is ‘You’re the one that I want’ by John Travolta and Olivia Newton John.
It was also the year of the Alma Ata Declaration, which was endorsed with the goal being to address extreme inequalities in health status between developed and developing countries.
The Declaration promoted primary care as the core of the health system, emphasising community participation, and collaboration across sectors.
There was a clear message that health needed to be delivered in communities, people should be able to have a say in their health and that a strong focus should be on equality.
Travel with me now to 1986 the number one song in Australia was ‘Chain Reaction’ by Diana Ross.
Now we arrive at the endorsement of the Ottawa Charter, which turns 40 this year. Happy birthday Ottawa Charter.
This Charter has completely revolutionised the way we look at health.
It is all about health promotion across sectors, with the ultimate aim being health equity. This is when we started properly talking about promoting health and wellness.
The Charter identified five priorities
- Building health public policy – like legislation and tax
- Creating supportive environments – like having good living conditions
- Strengthening community action – so that communities can make decisions about their own health
- Developing personal skills – through education and information, and
- Re-orienting health services from clinical to prevention.
How cool is the Ottawa Charter? It covered everything from taxation, legislation, community action and service, with a strong focus on prevention to keep people well.
Okay now we’re off to 2008. The number one song in Australia for the year is Low by Flo Rida featuring T Pain.
This is the year that the Social Determinants of Health Commission handed down their report. The ‘social determinants of health’ is jargon for the conditions in which we are born, grow, live, play, work, and age that influence our health.
This seeks to describe why people born in different post codes have different health outcomes. It reinforced the need for us to think about the way that all of the things we advocate for across our movements are needed for us to have good health and health equity.
Our last stop is 2023. The number one song in Australia for the year is Flower by Miley Cyrus.
This is the year that the Lancet released a series on the commercial determinants of health. This is a complex way of saying ‘the way that corporations influence our health’.
This series reported that four industries – tobacco, ultra-processed food, fossil fuel, and alcohol – cause at least a third of all deaths globally.
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All of these moments represent significant contributions to the way that we have thought about our health and wellbeing in recent times.
They also represent a reimagining of health beyond headlines about hospital waiting times.
They encourage us to think about health and wellbeing as part of the way that we live, the way that decision makers govern, the way that corporations do business and the instruments that we have that set guard rails to protect our health.
Health is all of this and more.
Caterina Giorgi, For Purpose
26 March 2026
For Purpose holds training on policy, advocacy, communications, media engagement and more. Find out more here.
