Adopting a broader concept of health and well-being in the development of the Trentino health plan (‎2015–2025)‎: a participatory process

Overview

In December 2015, the Autonomous Province of Trento in Italy adopted a strategic health plan for 2015−2025, broadening the concept of health and well-being in the Province from being solely cure-related to encompassing the social, economic and environmental determinants of health. This shift was enabled by the process followed in developing the health plan, which filtered into all levels of government and society. The Trentino health plan (‎2015−2025)‎ addresses the challenge of the triple burden of diseases, namely, communicable diseases, newly emerging and re-emerging diseases, and noncommunicable diseases. It calls for governmental and nongovernmental institutions, civil-society organizations and the public to be mutually responsible for community health and well-being, underlines the importance of health promotion, and supports the adoption of the health-in-all-policies approach in planning at the provincial level. This case study focuses on the process followed in developing the plan, including key government involvement, stakeholder participation and cross-sectoral collaboration, and describes the enabling factors and challenges experienced during the process.