WHO People-Planet-Health Action Board

The UN World Health Organization is making a major effort to promote human and environmental well-being and not just curing illnesses. The WHO issued on 21 December 2021 The Geneva Charter for Well-being, developed at a global conference with the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE), where over 5000 plus participants met virtually and in Geneva, Switzerland, to agree on the Charter. The Charter builds on the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and the legacy of nine IUHPE global conferences on health promotion, with one of which IEF partnered in 2019. It highlights the need for global commitments to achieve equitable health and social outcomes now and for future generations, without destroying the health of our planet. This charter will drive policy-makers and world leaders to adopt this approach and commit to concrete action.

The IEF was invited to designate a member of the new WHO People-Planet-Health Action Board, a civil society element of the People-Planet-Health Initiative, intended to provide a five year sounding board to inform WHO global policies from "unheard voices" in planetary health. Arthur Dahl of IEF joined nine members from around the world, and they met on 13-14 October 2022 to consider: what does well-being look like on a healthy planet? They presented their conclusions to Dr. Ruediger Krech, WHO Director of Health Promotion, including new forms of global and community accounting, and the need for common values.

The Director asked the Action Board to review and comment on a new draft WHO Achieving Well-being document. They are thinking very much along the lines of the IEF Global Solidarity Accounting Project, including measures beyond GDP, and are also interested in reaching down to the community level.

The organisers of the People-Planet-Health Action Board are active in the IUHPE, with which IEF partnered at its 23rd Annual Conference in Rotorua, New Zealand, in 2019 through Sione Tu'itahi, the IUHPE regional vice-president and a Bahá'í in New Zealand. One of the organisers' academic papers on People-Planet-Health quotes near the end from a New Zealand health promotion document including text that is almost word-for-word from a Bahá'í reference about world order.