The Transferability of Health Promotion and Education Approaches Between Non-communicable Diseases and Communicable Diseases—an Analysis of Evidence

BACKGROUND: There is a seeming lack within the public health fields of both research and practice of information sharing across so-called “silos of work”. Many professionals in the public health fields dealing with infectious diseases (IDs) are unaware of the programs and approaches taken by their colleagues in the non-communicable diseases (NCDs) arena, and vice versa. A particular instance of this is in the understanding and application of health promotion approaches. This is a problem that needs to be addressed with the goal of producing the most efficient and effective health promotion approaches to the prevention and control of diseases in general. OBJECTIVES: This project examined health promotion approaches to the prevention of NCDs that could be used in the prevention of IDs. METHODS: A knowledge synthesis and translation perspective was undertaken. We screened and analyzed a wide range of sources that were considered relevant, with particular emphasis on systematic reviews, published articles and the grey literature. RESULTS: The analysis revealed a diverse health promotion knowledge base for application to IDs. Comprehensive health promotion models were found to be useful. Findings suggest that there are profound similarities for health promotion approaches in both NCDs and IDs. Conclusions: This study revealed gaps in knowledge synthesis to translation. The need for development of intervention and implementation research is considered.