Primary Health Organisations (PHOs) have been formed to implement the New Zealand Primary Health Care Strategy. They are charged with working to decrease health inequalities between groups and to improve population health outcomes by using approaches to improve, maintain and restore the health of the population. Strong cohesive linkages between primary health care and public health services are crucial to the success of these initiatives, with health promotion being a key component of the population health approaches to be used by PHOs.

ARPHS works with the three District Health Boards (DHBs) in the Auckland region to support the development of health promotion within the 19 PHOs. During 2005 ARPHS facilitated a process involving the Ministry of Health, the three District Health Boards in the Auckland region and the PHOs of the Auckland region to develop regional guidelines on health promotion planning and action (PDF, 90KB).

In 2006 ARPHS facilitated – on behalf of the Ministry of Health – the first national hui of health promoters working in PHOs. The summary notes from this hui can be downloaded in pdf format (PDF, 233KB file).

The Health Outcomes Team at ARPHS works in partnership with a number of PHOs on a range of health promotion initiatives as well as supporting PHOhealth promotion development through:

The ARPHS Resource Centres have a variety of health education resources which can be utilised by those working in health promotion.