Conceptual Basis

The conceptual basis of the AIDS Vancouver Island strategic plan is based on
the integration of four paradigms: health promotion, population health analysis,
harm reduction and results-based accountability.

The health promotion model provides a means for enabling people to increase
control over and improve their own health. It recognizes the role of supportive
environments, healthy public policy, community participation, personal skills
and health services in promoting individual health.

The population health model shifts the focus of health policy and practice
away from individual lifestyle choices and medical treatment to an analysis
of the broader social and economic conditions under which people live, and how
those conditions influence the health of individuals and groups.

The harm reduction model provides a philosophical and practical basis to minimize
the harms to self and others that are associated primarily with drug use, but
also with sexual and other risk behaviours, while respecting the notions of
individual autonomy and choice. For the purposes of this document, harm reduction
includes abstinence-based approaches to risk reduction, but does not require
individuals to abstain from drug use or unsafe sexual behaviour per se.

The outcome-based evaluation model provides a way of measuring the achievement
of results, or intended health and social outcomes, for individuals and groups
of people, at a reasonable cost, and in accordance with core values, such as
fairness, equity and service quality.