A Decolonising Approach to Health Promotion

The burden of disease has quadrupled in much of the world population, affecting the Global South, particularly indigenous populations, the most. This chapter delves into what may explain the failure to translate good intentions behind health promotion, a global strategy towards better population health, into every day health practice and research. The role of biomedicine, and why it remains the dominant discourse in both health care and research is outlined. To address the global failure in delivering on the most progressive thinking about health and society in the history of humanity, the chapter argues for a decolonial shift in both discourse and praxis, illustrating how this shift often necessitates disobedience within disciplines or professions such as psychology and occupational therapy.