Pilot Health Promoting Hospital in rural South Africa: evidence-based approach to systematic hospital transformation.

This project aimed at transforming a rural District Hospital in the Limpopo Province of South Africa into a Health Promoting Hospital according to standards developed by WHO-Europe. The intervention used a diagnostic approach and baseline needs assessment of hospital staff, patients, and their relatives to identify health education and promotion needs. Activities included empowerment training and skills development, implementation of health education and promotion activities, and the integration of health-promoting standards and values in the hospital structure and culture.

Advances in health promotion in Africa: promoting health through hospitals.

A district hospital in a rural area of the Limpopo Province in South Africa has recently been launched as a 'Health Promoting Hospital', based on the principles of the Ottawa Charter and according to standards developed by WHO-Europe. The initiative was conceived as a project in partnership with stakeholders from the local community and is considered a pilot by Provincial health authorities, representing an advance in health promotion practice in the region. The project was designed as a research intervention, guided by the principles of critical action research integrated with the Precede-Proceed model for the systematic evaluation of health promotion and education.