Birthdays and anniversaries constitute a good opportunity to reflect upon pest experiences, advances and setbacks; everything that has been learnt and prospects for the future. Compiled to analyze the 10 years of the National Health Promotion Policy (PNPS), from its first draft in 2006 through to its recent reformulation, the articles in this special issue of Ciência & Saúde Coletiva corroborate the view that much has been achieved, albeit there is still a great deal to do! It is necessary to consolidate well-directed policies and practices fully with values and principles of participation, inter-sectoral coordination and equity, which are the mainstay of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) and the international Health Promotion (PS) movement.

The various studies and analyses of experiences presented by the authors who responded to the call to contribute to this issue, reveal the advances and challenges involved in achieving the best results in health promotion policies, notable among which are: (1) the need to preserve the instigator in the processes of institutionalization of this national proposal and in the local experiences; overcoming the permanent hegemony of knowledge and theories of biomedical understanding of the health-disease process: the deepening of the complexity, recognition of diversity and the discussion of conflicting actors and organizational and relational processes in the formulation, implementation, evaluation and review of the PNPS; (2) the improvement of the methodological framework of participatory research, intervention-research and action-research from an emancipatory perspective; the enhancement of policy assessment theories and inter-sectoral practices; and (3) investment in scenarios and specific topics such as health in schools, the healthy territories movements and networks; the public-private conflicts of interest in food and nutrition policies, the interfaces of prevention-promotion in corporal practices and physical activity programs, violence prevention, environmental justice; among others.

It should be stressed that in the process of organizing this issue, importance is attributed to reflection, by means of scientific articles by local authors-actors about their experiences, giving substance to the specific practices and their connections with the principles and priorities of the PNPS. Reading the texts published here helps to refute the idea that the proposal for health promotion, given its breadth and complexity, cannot be grasped and put into practice in the micro-political spaces of health facilities, schools and countries. On the contrary, they reinforce the potential of practices that build answers to the demands of these areas in the health sector.

The opportunity to launch this issue during the staging of the 22nd World Health Promotion Conference of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) in Brazil, with the theme of “Promoting Health and Equity,” reinforces this movement of reflection and commitment of researchers to the formulation of national and local policies, as the investigations are intended to support the implementation of activities in the different sectors –in addition to health – seeking to promote enhancements in the living and health conditions of populations in the world in general.

Finally, special thanks to the partnership of the Thematic Group entitled “Health Promotion and Social Development of the Brazilian Association of Public Health” (GTPSDS ABRASCO), and the support of the Center for Teaching and Research in Education and Health of the School of Medicine of ABC (NEPES/FMABC) by allocating funds for this publication.

Ana Maria Sperândio, Fábio F. B. de Carvalho, Julia Nogueira, Lenira Zancan e Marco Akerman
Guest Editors

Publication Dates