Nairobi, 28 October 2009 -- Delegates at the 7th Global Conference on Health Promotion have called for strengthening community empowerment as an essential component of Health Promotion.

This is part of the outcome of the deliberations at the 5-day conference taking place at the Kenyata International Centre, Nairobi, Kenya under the theme: Promoting Health and Development: Closing the implementation gap.

Delegates stressed the importance of constructive engagement, recognizing and appreciating the indigenous and traditional ways to empower communities and being respectful of culture and human rights.

Following presentations on case studies of community empowerment it was recognized that sustainable improvements in health standards of communities could be attained through addressing community concerns, building partnerships, building community capacity and evaluation to share ideas and visions between stakeholders.

The development of sustainable structures for people to work together across sectors and at multiple levels was emphasized as an effective means of ensuring the success of community empowerment as well as ensuring access to meaningful participation and control over the agenda.

Delegates however agreed that community empowerment is the bridge between health promotion and primary health care. However it was pointed out that the process of empowering communities, can itself lead to internal conflicts which must also be taken into account. They stressed the importance of respecting existing laws of the societies and the need to be sensitive to and avoid disrupting established orders. Political considerations cannot be ignored and building of partnerships with the communities is often necessary.

Organisations in today's multicultural environment were called upon to work together, to create the conditions to ensure good health for all citing the identification of leaders, ownership of the process, and actions to ensure sustainability of gains as key elements of the empowerment process.

The Conference is expected to draw up concrete proposals which will be contained in the Nairobi Call to Action. The 7th Global Conference on Health Promotion ends on Friday October 30.