Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this article was to overview the first health promotion foundation in the Asia-Pacific region, ThaiHealth, especially focusing on its history and mechanism, principles and activities, and evaluation method.
Methods: The information was collected from the presentations and interviews during the 21st IUHPE world conference, related books and website, addition to the lecture given at the field trip to ThaiHealth.
Results: ThaiHealth was established when the Thai Health Promotion Foundation Act (B.E.2544) was enacted in 2001. The unique characteristic of its form is that it is under the supervision of the Prime Minister (currently Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance), but it is not a part of the bureaucratic system. It utilizes a sustainable financing system through a two-percent surcharge levied on excise tax from tobacco and alcohol. The surcharge requires tobacco and alcohol producers to pay as an additional tax on top of the excise tax, and the surcharge is used for health promotion activities by ThaiHealth. ThaiHealth has an independent evaluation board to ensure its accountability, transparency, and efficiency. The board measures its effectiveness on not only health aspects, but also economic aspect using Social Return on Investment (SROI) of health promotion. ThaiHealth emphasizes health promoting public policies, issue-based programs, and holistic approaches. The characteristic of its activities is to improve people's health status by changing their value, lifestyle, and social environment.
Conclusions: We can learn from ThaiHealth, especially its mechanism and evaluation method, in order to improve health promotion in Japan.
