Box 5Moving from Health in All Policies to Health for All Policies

WHO’s Helsinki ‘Statement on Health in All Policies’ described HiAP as: “an approach to public policies across sectors that systematically takes into account the health implications of decisions, seeks synergies, and avoids harmful health impacts in order to improve population health and health equity” (PAHO, 2014). HiAP was the most important international movement to achieve health goals through intersectoral action.

Health in All is a: “horizontal, complementary policy-related strategy contributing to improved population health. The core of HiAP is to examine determinants of health that can be altered to improve health but are mainly controlled by the policies of sectors other than health” (Ståhl et al., 2006). HiAP entailed intersectoral governance or multisectoral governance, “coordinated action that explicitly aims to improve people’s health or influence determinants of health. Intersectoral action for health is seen as central to the achievement of greater equity in health, especially where progress depends upon decisions and actions in other sectors” (Ståhl et al., 2006).

While HiAP and the theory of working together to improve health is essential, the practicality of engaging other sectors has proven difficult. It is for this reason that an expansion of thought is required to move away from a unidirectional relationship (health sector benefiting from other sectors) towards a bidirectional one (both the health and other sectors benefiting from the collaboration). This bidirectional relationship, Health for All Policies (H4AP) highlights what the health sector can do for other sectors and vice versa (see Greer et al., 2022c for more details).

For more information please refer to the European Observatory policy brief on Making Health For All Policies: Harnessing the co-benefits of health (Greer et al., 2023).