This Charter for action to achieve ‘Health for All by the year 2000 and beyond’, arose from the first International Conference on Health Promotion, held in Ottawa, Canada in November 1986.

This 1986 conference was primarily a response to growing expectations for a new public health movement around the world. Discussions focused on the needs in industrialized countries, but took into account similar concerns in all other regions. It built on the progress made through the Declaration on Primary Health Care at Alma Ata, the World Health Organization’s Targets for Health for All document, and the recent debate at the World Health Assembly on intersectoral action for health.