“Awareness is one key aspect in maintaining good health, but knowledge alone do not change peoples’ behavior. We must work towards an everyday environment that helps to promote and preserve health and favor healthy choices,” said Tanel Kiik, the Estonian Minister of Social Affairs. “An environment where healthy choices come easily supports the workforce, the children and the elderly. Health is a value that must be maintained throughout our lives.”

The Health Promotion Conference that was held on 4th of June in Tallinn Creative Hub concentrated on the topic of creating a supportive environment for health. The main stage presentations highlighted the impact of the environment on human health and how the surrounding environment shapes our behavior. The parallel session in the second half of the day offered a variety of topics and different methodological approaches. The day was summarized with a panel discussion that visualized a health-promoting environment in 2030.

The following video gives an overview of the day:

HPP project led two parallel sessions:

1. Session no 3. Simulation game „Planning our living environment“ (presentation).The participants were divided into groups and started to simultaneously plan four different cities. Three groups planned the city in Estonian and one group in English, as the it was assembled by people from Estonia, Finland and England. After the groups had introduced their plans to everyone, Elo Kiivert from NGO Linnalabor shared her comments from the city planning point of view and Liis Kesa from the Ministry of Social Affairs shared observations about health promotion.
   Photos: (Raul Mee and Tiina Alasoo)
   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   
2. Session no 6. Psycho-social environment, addictions and health (presentation). Addiction and mental health topics were presented by Indrek Linnuste, psychologist and trainer and Merike Sisask, senior researcher and professor of social health in Tallinn University Institute of Social Sciences. The session was opened and moderated by Hele Leek-Ambur, Health Specialist curricula curator in Tallinn University Haapsalu College.
   Photos: (Raul Mee and Kadri Kauts)
   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

The main stage presentations were recorded and they can be seen on the YouTube channel of the National Institute for Health Development.

Thank you to everyone who attended the conference and the HPP parallel session.