HEALTH PROMOTION

Health Promotion

Health Promotion

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to expand the boundaries of our knowledge by exploring some relevant facts and figures related to Health Promotion. Health promotion is intended to include all people and affect their daily lives. Public participation in identifying problems, making decisions concerning improvements or changes in health determinants, is a chief task of health promotion. Health promotion aims primarily to achieve equality in health. The health promotion draws on many disciplines such as epidemiology, medicine, sociology, psychology, communication and education. It is not only used as teaching tools or communication, but also for the advocacy and structural interventions. The basic principle of health promotion is to ensure the effective participation of the population, promoting self-help and encourage people to find their way to promote the health of their communities (Valach, 1996, p. 49-63).

The basic definition of health promotion implies:

creating environments that allow people to provide adequate support for the pursuit of health in the living environment and working conditions through greater security and gratification;

the strengthening of communities should be supported to make independent decisions regarding issues related to the health of citizens who belong to it;

the reorientation of health services in the logic of making them more suitable to interact with other sectors, so as to carry out a joint action for the health of communities.

The greatest impact on human health is that of lifestyle, which consists of elements such as: physical activity, diet, ability to cope with stress, or substance abuse (nicotine, alcohol, psychoactive agents). The physical environment determines the health status of man. Factors such as pure air, water, healthy and safe workplace etc., have the most beneficial effect on the person's health. The Negative impact of environment on health is due to a large degree of environmental degradation, ionizing radiation, noise, harmful chemicals and biological agents. Majority of the health related issues are caused by genetic factors, while the rest is associated with health care services, i.e. operation or availability of medical services and their quality (Stuifbergen, 1994, pp. 3-13). In the next section, the author will critically review some of the key theoretical and practical debates encountered in relation to the principles and application of health promotion.

Discussion

Health promotion is a tool through which individuals and social groups strive to augment their control over determinants of health in order to improve their state of health, as well as shaping the environment and other factors leading to health (Smith, 2000, pp. 79-86).

The concepts of health promotion was first used by Henry Siegerist in 1945, placing health promotion as one of the four pillars of medicine, alongside prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of diseases. Thereafter, he identified a number of health promotion activities to ensure adequate living conditions, employment, education, physical culture and leisure and recreation. Health promotion has emerged as a social movement in the second half of the twentieth century, owing its top discoveries of epidemiological research that individual behaviour emerged as a major factor in determining the health of ...