Challenges of Health Promotion

Challenges of health PromotionThere is a very diverse range of the substance of health between different groups of race. How a person go away fixate what health means to them will depend on a number of factors. Arguably the most influential of these factors ar age, sex, socio-economic status, kindly class, location and culture. It is straight recognised that there are 5 distinct dimensions of health somatic, emotional, spiritual, social and mental. The World Health Organisation (1948) defined health as as a state of complete sensible, mental and social well-being.Kelleher (1991) hypothesises that for some people being wakeless means being happy, for others it may be an prospect of living for a long time, while others may see it as an exclusion of unhealthiness. These definitions of health may be influenced by personal understand of illness, in time some may see it as simply dear being able to cope and go about their daily lives without interference. loosely the mos t dominant definition of health is merely seen as an absence of illness, often described as a negative definition. D avouchie et al (1990) say that negative definitions of health can be linked to perceptions of what is abnormal, unwanted or incapacitating.Age is a very important factor in find out how someone defines health, as those of a smaller age group will mainly focus on the physical aspects of health such as fitness and diet. Generally however, as people age they place more emphasis on the emotional and spiritual aspects of health. This shows that social factors are a very big determinant of how someone will define health. A lot of podiatry work involves working with various people to change their health for example keeping them mobile and alleviate painful symptoms receivable to some form of fraility, illness or disability. This may include get around term treatments or long term care may be required.The definition of health has also changed over time, for example the Ancient Greeks believed that illness was caused by an imbalance in the humours (bodily fluids). In contrast in blue(a) times, illness was seen as the will of God, a more spiritual production on the concept of health.There are three models relating to the concept of health the Biomedical model emphasises health in terms of biological processes of the body. In contrast the Social model of health asserts that in addition to physical dimensions of health, other dimensions must be considered including the persons social and economic circumstances. It considered the person as a whole living within a social linguistic context (Blaxter 2004). The Biopsychosocial model takes the aspects of the previous two models and combines them. It is the dynamic interaction of biological, psychological, and social influences of health, however it focuses more on the individual rather than the social structures surrounding them.In the 1800s and 1900s the focus was on the supplying of a healthy enviro nment which include adequate housing and sanitation and the provision of safe food and water. With developments in medical science the emphasis has shifted to hitch medical serve e.g. vaccines, immunization and encouraging people to realise healthy choices. This reflects the shift from communical diseases to lifestyle think diseases e.g. cancer.There are two approaches to health advance a preventative approach and an empowerment approach. Glanz, Rimer Lewis (2002) assert that the central concern of health precept is health behaviour. This means that peoples lifestyles play a significant role in the development and management of disease and through various measures we can come on people to make healthy choices. In 1975 Marc Lalonde published a piece entitled A New Perspective on the Health of Canadians in which he argued there are 4 main causes of illness, namely Inadequacies in current health services, lifestyle or behavioural factors, environmental pollution and physical characteristics.The Ottawa Charter (1986) outlines the five principal sections of health promotion as Conducive public policy, supportive environments, community participation, personal skills and the reorientation of health services to allow people to make well informed, healthy choices. Conducive policy refers to the importance of Government policy in general, and non just in health policy, in promoting health. The second fragment is the provision of supportive environments. This refers to the importance of having healthy physical environments such as in the home, at school, work and in public places.The community participation element of health promotion consists of involving communities and special interest groups, e.g. the elderly, women, people with disabilities and travellers, in identifying their own health needs and developing services permit to these needs.The final element of health promotion is the reorientation of health services towards services which are concerne d with health promotion, protection and disease prevention. This involves shifting the emphasis in health services to primary health care e.g. providing screening services and health checks within a community.Ewles and Simnett (1999) list the following activities that could be seen as health promotion practices Mass media advertising, campaigns on health issues, patient education, self-help groups environmental safety measures, public policy issues, health education about physical health, preventative medical procedures, codes of practice on health issues, health enhancing facilities in local communities, workplace health policies and health and social education for young people in schools. Ewles and Simnett (2003) also identify approaches to health promotion. These all lessen from a particular set of aims which hope to be achieved. They emphasise that no one aim or approach to health promotion is regenerate but that it is important for us, as health care workers to consider which is appropriate for us, and relevant to our work. However one of the most important factors is educating people, to allow them to make informed, healthy choices.The first of approaches is medical or preventitive. The aim of this approach is to come across freedom from medically defined disease and disability e.g. cancer. This could be achieved through screening, immunisation and early detection. This approach has been highly successful but tends to pay back a negative definition of health.