This
article focuses on understanding the definitions and concepts in health, health
education, health promotion and differentiating health education from health
promotion.
Also,
concepts of health instruction, health services, healthful living, personal
health, community health will be discussed.
By
the end of this article, you will be able to:
•
explain the concept of health
•
describe the concept of health education and health promotion
•
differentiate between health education and health promotion
•
describe the concept of health instruction
•
describe the concept of health services as relate to the Nigerian health system
•
describe the concept of healthy living
•
explain personal health
•
discuss the concept community health
The
concept of health had been widely discussed among scholars across the globe
with strong emphasis on the need to ensure that individuals display acceptable
health practices to function effectively in the society.
Further,
health has been given various definitions by several authorities, however, the
most acceptable definition up till date is the one put up by the World Health
Organisation (WHO) in 1948:
Health
is a state of complete physical, social and mental well-being and not merely
the absence of disease of infirmity.
Alex
Jadad and Laura O’Grady in 2009 have defined health as “the ability to adapt
and self-manage” in the face of social, physical, and emotional challenges. The
ability to adjust and cope with physical, mental and social challenges all
through life truly makes one healthy.
This
new definition seems to be well accepted by a lot of people because it is
perceived as not being disease oriented.
The
WHO definition was further analysed by Brussow (2013) as follows: with respect
to physical health, the term of ‘allostasis’ was introduced – the maintenance
of physiological homeostasis through changing conditions.
In
the field of mental health exhibiting a sense of coherence such as consistency
was identified as defining criterion.
Social
health included people's capacity to fulfill their potentials and
responsibilities, the ability to manage their life and to participate in social
activities as well as doing their work.
Read: Symptoms, Pictures, Causes, Prevention and Treatment of Tonsillitis
7 Limitations of World Health Organization’s Definition of Health
1.
Health is dynamic, not a state
2.
The dimensions are inadequate
3.
The definition is subjective
4.
Measurement is difficult
5.
The definition is idealistic rather than
realistic
6.
Health is not an end but a means
7.
The definition lacks a community
orientation.
Health
is the most important thing in life without which we cannot do anything. The
popular saying ‘health is wealth’ is very true because health issues that make
people limited to do things that can make them financially successful.
There
are mainly five dimensions to health: Health is not just about physical and
medical; health is also about how people deal with emotional, mental and
relationship health. At any stage in our lives, we must take care of our
health; we must also learn to take life easy and live life to the fullest.
Why
do you think health occupies a central stage in the lives of people in the
society?
(a)
Health deals with social, emotional and psychological conditions of human
beings.
(b)
Health will improve population level of a country.
(c)
It is an important factor in education sector.
(d)
Health will reduce the rate of divorce in the society
Concept of Health Education
To
fully understand the concept of health education, it is necessary to know the
meaning of education. Education is the process of facilitating learning, or acquiring
knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits after studying particular
subject matter or experiencing life lessons that provide an understanding of
something.
Education
requires some sort of instruction from an individual or composed literature.
According
to World Health Organisation (WHO), health education is any combination of
learning experiences designed to help individuals and communities improve their
health, by increasing their knowledge or influencing their attitudes.
Health
education provides knowledge on health-related aspects and develops the
attitude of people to maintain sound health.
Among
the major factors affecting health as put by WHO (2019) are:
•
The social and economic environment,
•
The physical environment,
•
The person’s individual characteristics and behaviours.
The
crust of health education lies in assisting individuals and communities to
control these factors. Health Education is an important and integral role of
public health.
In-Text
Question (s) what are the three main factors affecting health which the health
education has to assist in ensuring? Answer:
·
The social and economic environment,
·
The physical environment,
·
The person’s individual characteristics and behaviors
According
to WHO (2016), health promotion helps people to intensify control over their
own health. It covers a extensive range of social and environmental
interventions that are designed to benefit and protect individual people’s
health and quality of life by addressing and preventing the root causes of ill
health, not just focusing on treatment and cure. There are three key elements
of health promotion as highlighted by WHO (2016):
1. Good governance for
health: Health promotion requires policymakers across all government
to make general policies that consider health implications in all decisions
taken. Such policies must be prioritized and prevent people from becoming sick
and protect them from injuries.
These
policies need to be supported by regulations that match private sector
incentives with public health goals.
For
example, by aligning tax policies on unhealthy or harmful products such as
alcohol, tobacco, and food products which are high in salt, sugars and fat with
measures to boost trade in other areas. And through legislation that supports
healthy urbanization by creating walk able cities, reducing air and water
pollution, enforcing the wearing of seat belts and helmets.
2. Health literacy:
Educating people to acquire knowledge, skills and information to make healthy
choices is necessary; for example, people should have knowledge of the
nutrients in the food they eat and healthcare services that they need; this
will enable them to make good choices.
They
also need to be given assurance of an environment in which they can make a
demand for additional policy actions to further improve their health.
3. Healthy cities: Cities have a vital role to play in good
health promotion. Strong leadership and commitment at the community level is
essential to healthy urban planning and to build up preventive measures in
communities and primary health care facilities. Healthy countries can grow from
healthy cities and eventually, a healthier world.
In-Text
Question (s)
What is health literacy?
Health
literacy is educating people to acquire knowledge, skills and information to
make healthy choices.
Comparison of Health
Education and Health Promotion
At
this juncture, it is important to differentiate between Health Education (HE)
and Health Promotion (HP). Health Education and Health Promotion have multiple
influences from several disciplines.
The
primary influence on health education stemmed from behavioral sciences, and
health promotion is firmly fixed in the social sciences.
Health
education is defined as: “Any combination of learning experiences designed to
facilitate voluntary adaptation of behavior conducive to health.” while Health
Promotion “Is any combination of educational, organizational, economic and
environmental support for behaviors and conditions of living conducive to
health.”
Therefore,
health education and health promotion have influence on peoples’ health behavioral
change by educating them on the need for change and helping them to
practicalize activities for change in schools and communities.
The
two concepts are two sides of the same coin as they are complementary in action
and need each other to succeed.
Some Terminologies in Health Education
i. Health Instruction: Health instruction is a formal form of
interaction where concepts of health (content to improve knowledge, attitude
and practice) are taught with the intention of positively influencing these
domains of learning to ensure that people are well equipped with relevant
information and behave positively in matters of health. Health instruction
takes place mostly in schools.
School
Health Instruction (SHI) is the instructional aspects of school health
programme.
It
provides information on important health issues to school children who are
still in their formative years.
ii. Health Services: Health Services are centered on making
accessible, high quality, and patient-centered health care. Health services
serve patients, families, communities, and populations. They take care of
emergency, preventative, rehabilitative, long-term, hospital, diagnostic,
primary, palliative, and home care.
In
a nutshell, Health educators provide preventive health services in schools and
communities.
iii. Healthful Living: ‘Healthy living’ means maintaining a healthy
lifestyle as well as introducing habits that improve one’s health. Combining
health education and physical education leads to Healthful living. The two
courses should complement each other.
iv. Personal Health:
Personal health refers to the wellness of the individual. It is the ability to
take charge of one’s health by making conscious decisions to be healthy. It is
not only refers to the physical wellbeing of an individual but also involves
the wellness of emotional, intellect, social, economic, spiritual and other
areas of life.
v. Community Health: According to Green and Ottoson (1999), a
community was defined as “a group of inhabitants living in a somewhat localized
area under the same general regulations and having common norms, values, and organizations”.
“Community Health refers to the health status of a defined group of people and
the actions and conditions put in place, both private (individual/communal and
public (governmental), to promote, protect, and preserve their health”
(McKenzie et al., 2005).
Conclusion on Concept OF Health Education and Health Promotion in Nigeria
This
article has been able to take a broad view of health education and health
promotion. Important concepts like health, health education, health promotion,
comparison of health education and health promotion, health instruction, health
services, healthful living, personal health and community health had been
extensively discussed to provide you with understanding and skills on
health-related issues.
We
have been able to learn the definition of health and examine the weaknesses of
WHO definition of health. We have studied major factors affecting health; we
also studied 3 key elements of Health Promotion. We have examined various
concepts and definitions used in some of relevant areas of health education and
promotion.
0 Comments