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 The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion defines the fundamental
conditions and resources for health as “peace, shelter, education, food, income,
a stable ecosystem, sustainable resources, social justice, and equity.” This vantage
point expresses the unavoidable connections between all aspects of society and the
natural world.
In order to focus this broad understanding toward creating
social change that leads to a healthy urban environment, this
section focuses primarily on those aspects of the environment that can directly lead
to improvement in people’s physical, mental and emotional well-being. This goal depends
on social and environmental change that leads to better health. It may be pursued
by reducing negative aspects of life, such as violence, drug abuse, disease, and
pollution; and by increasing attributes that lead to health, such as personal responsibility,
appropriate medical care, and access to green spaces and fresh, organically grown
food. Clean air for exercise, physical education, and recreational opportunities
all have a role to play. (Please see the Air Quality, Energy, and Transportation
sections for further discussion of clean air.) While the issue of homelessness is
beyond the defined scope of this planning effort, it is recognized that this condition
has an important impact on human health, and should be addressed in a plan independent
of this document.
To achieve a sustainable society, environmental, cultural, and institutional barriers
to good health must be removed and appropriate health care services must be equitably
distributed throughout the city. A primary value underlying these goals is that no individual or group should bear a disproportionate health
burden or abridge another group’s health. Care-providers themselves
should reflect the diversity of San Francisco, and the types of care available should
include therapies that reflect the diverse traditions of the community. This approach
will ensure an environment for health and care of illness that is appropriate to
the human spirit as well as the human body.
Perhaps most importantly, public awareness must be increased about resources, rights
and responsibilities related to health maintenance. Health professionals and educators
must provide the information and motivation that can help people take more responsibility
for their own health. Insurers must provide the economic context that makes it possible
for people to secure preventative guidance. The
focus of achieving public health should shift very strongly to prevention, while maintaining and improving the remediation services that will be
needed during and after the long transition toward a more healthful society.
The following goals, objectives and actions address some of the factors that have
an impact on human health. Since “human health” is a topic of very wide scope, the intention in this section is to highlight the connection
between human health and the health of the environment. A collaboration
between environmentalists and health professionals is critical to the implementation
of this plan.
Many of the data on existing conditions and the objectives proposed in the following
material came from the federal government’s health-promotion report, Healthy People
2000. However, some of the specifics of this plan have not been researched for
the local area, and objectives are based on the best judgment of the group drafting
this section. References noted in the text follow the matrix. Numbers for which references
are not given, (which have been cited to the nearest digit) come from San Francisco
SB 697 Community Needs Assessment, The Indicator Data Report [ref 4].
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