DISCUSS THE CONCEPT OF HEALTH PROMOTION AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO Essay

DISCUSS THE CONCEPT OF HEALTH PROMOTION AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO POSITIVE HEALTH - Essay Example In some cases, the drivers of such actions are individuals; whereas, in other cases, such as alcoholism and smoking, a collective mindset and use of force is necessary. Such cases may require use of coercion to enforce the corrective action. A significant aspect of health promotion is health education which aims at creating learning experiences for people by imparting knowledge related to the various elements of health and demonstrating what actions are needed to maintain good health (Green & Kreuter, 1999). Health education maybe an individual or a collective effort; it may result in direct benefit (to the person who is suffering from health problems) or indirect benefit/ positive externality (to people other than the person being educated) (Bandura, 1977). What distinguishes health education from secondary learning is that health education is a methodical, planned learning exercise which is proactively undertaken in order to make people aware of the various risks associated with he alth and their possible solutions (Ottoson & Green, 1987). The concept of health promotion; however, extends beyond that of health education in that the former attempts to facilitate the high quality of life outcomes proposed by health education . It provides the necessary organizational, political, social and economic mechanisms needed to achieve the objectives proposed by health education. In other words, one may infer that health education is a pre requisite to health promotion; without self-awareness regarding health-related issues health promotion is futile. Without health education, health promotion would be limited to a politically manipulated activity marked by death of the â€Å"social† aspect of health promotion needed to avoid the manipulation. Over the years, there has been a growing shift of responsibility associated with positive health outcomes from the government and environmental agencies to individuals (Bunton, 1993). Thus the balance has tilted from environ mental activists, medical agencies and public service institutions to individuals, schools, and households (Bunton, 1993). This has been made possible by the rapid influx and falling prices of technology, greater awareness through media as well as high levels of community support for such health promotion programs. Schools are not volunteering in educating students about healthy diet and issues such as obesity, AIDS, as well as preventing the use of drugs and alcohol (Tonin, 1980). Community organizations have sprung up in order to promote better standards of living for its members. Such action involves greater co ordination and communication across various sectors of the society (Thorogood, 1992). However, in order to achieve the intended outcomes and attain maximum efficiency, health promotion must be simultaneously achieved at both levels (the individual and collective) (Thorogood, 1992). Thus, all groups pursuing health promotion ought to decide their share of contribution to th e overall effort in the context of local culture and lifestyle (Thorogood, 1992). Victims of poor health are a vital component of this decision-making process and their views on which group should attain maximum responsibility ought to be taken into account (Green, 1986) (Flynn et al.,