Health is not created and lived in isolation. It results from an on-going process and interaction with the individuals' socio-ecological environment throughout the whole life course. In this context, we all have to function as active participating subjects in our own life, making use of resources in order to maintain and improve health. Thus, health can be seen as a lifelong learning process where we reflect on what will create health and what are the options for life and quality of life.
Health is perceived and evaluated differently by the individual across the age span, and highly depends on factors within the individual, but also on factors in the individuals' close and distant environment. Health and well-being is significantly influenced by the circumstances of our lives, access to services, work and income and by the communities where we live as well as our own lives. Therefore, the knowledge base of health promotion, as well as strategies to promote health, must be seen in a life course perspective.

This area has important international collaborations like and the LOOK project in beside a number of Norwegian Collaborators.

It has during the last years been evidently clear to authorities that we are facing a society in European countries, and in other countries around the world with a western style of living, a growing elderly population. This has two important effects on the ways we will have to think about health in society. It will be increasingly important to keep the work force entering the productive part of the population healthy – and on the other hand we also need to hold the old part of the population (70+) healthy because they will become such a large part of the population.