Letter from the Editor

The concept of health promotion is rooted in a salutogenic view of health , which aims to strengthen people s health through empowerment, and collaborative and participatory processes. Health promotion shifts the focus away from narrow disease prevention approaches to actions on the wider social determinants of health. The Division of Health Protection and Promotion (DHP) in the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean is concerned with translating this conceptual framework into coherent, integrated and synergistic policies, action plans and activity programmes for health promotion and protection.