Everybody living in Austria should reach a ripe old age in good health. This is what the Austrian Health Promotion Fund (Fonds Gesundes Österreich, FGÖ), the Austrian competence and funding centre for health promotion, is committed to.
Priorities in 2024-2028
The framework programme for 2024-2028 defines the FGÖ‘s strategic goals and priorities for the next five years. Its strategy paper addresses social trends on a global and national scale that have a major impact on the health of Austria‘s population: The FGÖ’s core mission for the next few years is to foster “health-promoting, climate-friendly, resilient & fair settings and lifestyles” with the help of health promotion.
This will be implemented using measures that take settings as their starting point, with activities focusing on the following:
- Educational settings
- Workplace, companies,
- Municipalities, cities and regions,
- Digital spaces (in preparation).
Beyond these, innovative projects relating to topics that do not fit into one of these four priorities will be funded in the “innovation space”.
The updated Health Promotion Strategy 2024 (Gesundheitsförderungsstrategie) provides the framework for health promotion in Austria and also regulates the allocation of funds by the FGÖ, including the Agenda Health Promotion (Agenda Gesundheitsförderung). With the “Agenda Health Promotion,” the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection has taken an important step towards a forward-looking development of health promotion in Austria. As the Health Promotion Strategy governs the allocation of funds, it serves as a central strategic foundation for the FGÖ's work. The prioritised focus areas of the strategy are:
- Healthy environments and lifestyles (particularly nutrition and physical activity) with a focus on childhood, youth, and healthy ageing
- Psychosocial health and participation
- Health literacy in organisations and individuals, with an emphasis on health equity
- Health promotion with a focus on climate protection and climate resilience
Within the framework of the Agenda Health Promotion the Competence Centre for Future Health Promotion carried out the participatory strategy process “Future Health Promotion”, which focused on measures to improve the quality of life and well-being of the Austrian population. Both the public and experts were actively involved in the process; many of the proposed measures have already been picked up in the current framework programme.
The planned activities also contribute to implementing national and international strategies such as the Austrian Health Targets, the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations and the Geneva Charter for Well-being.
Functions of the Austrian Health Promotion Fund
- Funding agency: the FGÖ is the national funding agency for health promotion in Austria.
- Competence centre: in cooperation with stakeholders and actors involved in health promotion, the FGÖ develops knowledge and competences relating to the concepts and methods of health promotion.
- Networking hub: as a networking organization, the FGÖ encourages cooperation between actors on all levels at the interface of practice, research, administration and politics.
Implementation
One form of practical implementation involves providing funds for projects all over Austria which are planned and carried out by dedicated organizations. Project funding is a core priority of the FGÖ’s activities.
The second line of action covers activities which are conceptualized by the FGÖ and either carried out internally or in cooperation with external partners: strategic programmes and initiatives, quality development, informing and raising awareness in the population, training opportunities for practitioners working in the field of health promotion and networking activities in the field of health promotion and – in the sense of “health in and for all policies” – beyond that.
The organizational framework
The FGÖ is one of the business divisions belonging to the Austrian National Public Health Institute Gesundheit Österreich GmbH (GÖG) and consists of three bodies. The Board of Trustees is the governing body of the FGÖ, making decisions on the work programmes, annual budgets and funding for major projects. The Board of Trustees is assisted by a Scientific Advisory Committee advising on strategy development and project evaluation . The Administrative Office is responsible for running the day-to-day operations.
Two other organization units are part of the FGÖ: the Austrian Competence and Service Centre for Self-Help (Österreichische Kompetenz- und Servicestelle für Selbsthilfe, ÖKUSS) and the Competence Centre Future Health Promotion (Kompetenzzentrum Zukunft Gesundheitsförderung). The latter is part of the Agenda Health Promotion of the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection.
Legal basis and funding
The FGÖ’s work is laid down in the Health Promotion Act (Gesundheitsförderungsgesetz) passed in 1998 and the Federal Law on the Austrian National Public Health Institute (Bundesgesetz über die Gesundheit Österreich GmbH) from 2006. The annual basic budget is currently at EUR 7.25 million to fulfil its duties.