8/21/2019 Health Promotion is About Raising the Health Status of
Individuals and Communities
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• Health promotion is about raising the health status of
individuals andcommunities.
• Health promotion is an umbrella term for the range of
activities carried out invarious settings, with various groups
which tackle causing ill-health
• Decline in infectious disease rates, and the emergence
diseases linked tounhealthy ‘lifestyles’ such as coronary heart
disease and cancer, alsosupported this change in public health
focus.
• Increasingly, chronic diseases were viewed as being created in
parted by theindividual behavior and life style choices, and
subseuently efforts toencourage individuals to make lifestyle
changes became a key focus of publichealth work.
• Health education - defined ‘as planned learning experiences to
facilitate
voluntary change in behaviour to develop consciously pursued
health-directed
behaviour’.
• !merged as a discipline within public health movement during
the late "#$$s,early "%$$s - primary aim concerned with encouraging
behavioural change.
• &he emergence of health education is often linked to the
rise of the
temperance movement in the '(.
• )ass health education programme to deal with "st *orld *ar
soldiers
returning home with some form of venereal disease +$.
• /iews and values held health and health determinants
influences health
professionals’ and politicians’ decisions about which health
promotion
strategies or approaches should be used.
• Health promotion is characterised by the use of diverse
approaches, and all
have strengths and limitations.
• 0o single approach is or has been responsible for improvements
in the health
status of individuals and1or populations.
Prerequisites for health
• 2eace
• 3helter
• !ducation
• 4ood
• Income
• 5 stable eco-system
• 3ustainable resources
• 3ocial 6ustice and euity
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Individuals and Communities
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5 approaches to health promotion
". )edical or preventive - &o prevent disease
. 7ehaviour change - &o ensure people are well informed and
able to make8healthy9 choices
:. !ducational - &o help people to acuire the skills and
;. !mpowerment - confidence to take greater control over their
health
plain conseuence of undesirable behaviour
● ?an reduce incidence of illness and disease @ morbidity
rate
● ?an reduce mortality rates
● )eet health targets as set by the government
● 2rovide support e.g. 4ree phone numbers for smokers to
uit.
Weaknesses of Health Promotion Campaigns may include
● ?an result in groups becoming immune to health messages and so
they may
be ineffective
● 2eople do not like being told what to do
● 2eople can become confused with the conflicting messages from
various
campaigns1organisations
● ?an be difficult to get the information across to the target
audience
● 2eople can simply ignore campaigns
● 2eople refuse to believe that they could be affected
