We are inspired by…
We are inspired by the principles of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (empower people to increase control over their health and to improve it, create supportive environments for health, strengthen community action, develop personal skills, etc.).
We are also looking to the future and to the contribution we can make to work towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: end poverty, hunger and inequality, take concrete actions against climate change and for protecting the environment, improve access to health and education, build strong institutions and a global partnership for sustainable development, and promote peace and justice.
We also look back to the past, and embrace the reflections Hippocrates made some 2,500 years ago on the environment and lifestyles:  "Whoever wishes to investigate medicine properly, should proceed  thus: in the first place to consider the seasons of the year, and what effects each of them produces ….. Then the winds, the hot and the cold….We must also consider the qualities of the waters and how a city lies as to the winds and the rising of the sun; and the ground, whether it be naked and deficient in water, or wooded and well watered, and the mode in which the inhabitants live, and what are their pursuits, whether they are fond of drinking and eating to excess, and given to indolence, or are fond of exercise and labor, and not given to excess in eating and drinking”.
Excerpt from ‘Hippocrates, the genuine works of Hippocrates. On airs, waters, and places’. Translation from Greek by Adams F.Williams & Wilkens: 1939:19