Health promotion at last? Trends in French health education over the past decade

Major legislative, structural and organizational changes have had a significant impact on public health in France over the past decade. This paper examines the effects of these changes in terms of the development of health education over the same period. Six significant trends were identified: the development of research in health education, the emphasis on health education as a strategy for reducing health and social inequalities, the emergence of health education as a field of intervention, the emergence of therapeutic patient education, the unprecedented economic difficulties of health education associations, and the changing perception of health education among public health authorities. The embeddedness of health education in health promotion remains vital since it provides the basis for developing the full potential of health education as part of a cross-sector approach, in combination with a range of other strategies aimed at broadening the scope of intervention.