Health promoting schools: A quiet revolution in young people's health and education in Latvia

The World Health Organization has operationalized health promotion in schoo ls through a Health Promoting Schools (HPS) ideology that proposes that the entire school setting must support student well-being and health through t he curriculum, the school environment, and links with family and community. In this paper we trace the development of HPS ideology in Latvia and evalu ate its successes. We note that HPS has developed the required administrati ve infrastructure, a health education curriculum, and has successfully impl emented health projects, particularly around lifestyle health issues. It ha s been less successful in establishing links with parents and the community .