Strengthening the evidence base for health promotion

Abstract

This paper describes the evidence debate from the many players currently attempting to define best practices in health promotion. Expert opinions on the purpose of collecting evidence range from those who view evidence as a western notion of little use in the developing world to those who choose to focus on opportunities to demonstrate the effectiveness of health promotion. There is also much disagreement on what constitutes evidence. Some view evidence as strict outcomes of randomized clinical trials (RCT) and others place greater value on other unpublished sources, not traditionally viewed as valuable information. A challenge for health promotion in the new century is to foster and develop high quality, widely recognized and acceptable standards for evidence-based evaluation.