Enduring strengths and a critical gap, the Ottawa Charter and animal rescue fostering in Aotearoa-New Zealand

According to the Ottawa Charter, both care for others and a supportive environment promote health. Although the Ottawa charter focuses on the human context, animal rescue organizations can be conceptualized as providing supportive environments as part of their work to rehome animals. Animal fosterers also build care relationships with the animals they foster. Therefore, the Ottawa Charter provides a foundation for viewing animal fostering as health promotion. This mixed-methods study analysed animal rescue cat fostering programmes in Aotearoa-New Zealand from the perspective of the Ottawa Charter. Data was collected using a quantitative survey of 40 cat rescue organizations with foster programmes, and semistructured interviews (n = 14) with foster programme co-ordinators across Aotearoa-New Zealand. Template analysis was used to apply principles from the Ottawa Charter to the interview data, revealing (i) fostering as care to create health, and (ii) Ottawa charter strategies in action. Key findings were that fostering involved multiple, sometimes challenging aspects of care for others. Some co-ordinators described using strategies aligned with Ottawa Charter action areas to structure their service (strengthening community action, creating supportive environments, developing skills, and reorienting from institutional to community-based services). These strategies supported their ability to care for themselves, and animals. We argue the Ottawa Charter's framing of care for others can be expanded to include human-animal relationships and that cat fostering programmes demonstrate health promotion in action. This case study demonstrates the Ottawa Charter's enduring contribution while highlighting the need for public health to evolve to maintain relevance in our multispecies world.