Which statement about the Ottawa Charter is true?

• A. It Focuses Exclusively on Biomedical Interventions
• B. It Ignores Social Determinants of Health
• C. It Emphasizes Prerequisites for Health; Enabling People to Increase Control Over and Improve Their Health; Reorienting Health Services Toward Health Promotion.
• D. It Recommends a Single-Sector Health Policy

Answer: (C)

The main idea being tested is how health promotion is framed in the Ottawa Charter. The Charter defines health promotion as enabling people to increase control over their health and its determinants, while also reorienting health services to focus on prevention and promotion, not just treatment. It also emphasizes that health is built from the conditions in which people live—often called prerequisites for health—such as safe living, education, adequate income, and social justice.

That is why the statement is the best answer: it directly captures three interrelated concepts the Charter promotes—prerequisites for health, enabling people to enhance their health, and shifting health services toward health promotion. Together, these reflect the Charter’s holistic approach to health that goes beyond medicine alone and across sectors.

The other options don’t fit because they imply a narrow or incorrect stance: health promotion is not about biomedical interventions alone, it doesn’t ignore social determinants, and it isn’t about a single-sector policy.