Individual and Corporate Responsibily in Health Promotion: A Personal View

Abstract

The balance of individual and corporate responsibility in health promotion is considered. It is concluded that, if left to their own devices, individuals have a very limited capacity to make choices relevant to their health; a government that seeks to obtain social justice for its constituency has the right to regulate any behaviour that may detract from the objective of maximum Health for All; governments should act to control health hazards, foster balance in behaviours that has both health benefits and health hazards to offer, and promote behaviours that are wholly beneficial; and that the exercise of individual choice for health requires a situation in which the best choice follows as the most natural consequence of these surroundings-surroundings which, for most part, are determined as much by others, including governments, as by individuals themselves.

Keywords

Health promotion Individual rights Public Health Nutrition Policy Social justice

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