Abstract
This text was commissioned and has been slightly adapted from the Preface to: Scriven, A. (ed) (2005) Health Promoting Practice: The Contribution of Nurses and Allied Health Professions. Palgrave, London. It has also been published on-line in the Reviews of Heatlh Promotion and Education Online (www.rhpeo.org) under the series entitiled Ottawa 1986- Vancouver 2007: should the Ottawa Charter be revisited?