3. 3
Subject of “Health Education and Promotion” in public
health will try to change our mind set from curative to
preventive and promotional aspect of health.
4. 4
Defining Health
• Ironically when the term health first appeared in English
in 1000 AD, it meant “quality of soundness and
wholeness”, in a very broad term. It included physical
prowess, wit and intelligence .
• But gradually with advent of modern science its usage
become known to just physical fitness.
5. 5
WHO Definition
• Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social
well being and not merely the absence of disease or
infirmity.
7. 7
Physical And Mental Well
Being
• Why it is important to include mental health?
• Usually acceptance of a mental or emotional problem is more certain when
something physical is involved.
a. E.g. Work place harassment of females
b. Chronic Fatigue syndrome
c. School child behavioral problems
• Its general tendency to regard only physical symptoms as real illness.
8. 8
Social Well Being
• It is the most ambiguous term of the triad, so is open
for individual interpretations.
• One possible way to explain it is that every healthy
person must make a positive contribution towards
family and community e.g. as parents or bank clerk
etc.
9. 9
Spiritual Well Being
• WHO has omitted this dimension deliberately rather
than accidentally, to avoid any conflict of believes.
• But in reality it has profound effect on health E.g.
Regular prayers not only eases blood pressure but
also improves digestion.
• Some people argue that benefits are gained by
evoking metaphysical forces.
10. 10
• Still some other argue that its just a placebo effect.
• So, the best solution is to recognize and respect the
comfort that many receive from their spiritual beliefs,
while focusing on professional activities on the more
secular dimension
12. 12
Subjective Feeling
• The quality of feeling well.
• It gives potential control to the individual over his / her
own health.
• But it is not reliable as according to it , some severely
disabled might get ranked too high while on the other
hand, some “clinically healthy” but depressed person
can sink low on criteria.
13. 13
Objective….Ability To
Function
• It seems to be valid and universally accepted but.
• Many clinical examinations of functional ability are
focused on the minimal requirement for independent
living.
14. 14
Measuring Health
• As there are never enough resources, so we have to
make choices, like :
a. Which group of people are most in need?
b. Which diseases are more troublesome?
c. Which methods of control are more promising?
15. 15
Traditional Indices
• These provide comparisons between different
geographical areas or different periods of time, pin
pointing areas of need and help us in setting future
goals.
• These indices are divided into different categories
like, mortality, morbidity, life expectancy and disability.
16. 16
Mortality Rates
• One way of keeping track is to keep simple count of
deaths for a specified period of time.
• It will be useful but comparisons will be difficult.
• So, mortality rates may be computed for specific
population such as particular geographical area, racial
group, specific age group or specific cause.
17. 17
Age Adjusted Rates
• These are used for comparing different countries,
regions or nations and particularly different historical
periods of a particular population group.
• E.g. Comparison of heart disease between Sweden
and Egypt would give all false results if not age
adjusted.
18. 18
Morbidity
Morbidity is a term used to describe how often a
disease occurs in a specific area or is a term used to
describe a focus on death. An example of morbidity is
the number of people who have cancer. An example of
morbidity is a focus on death.
19. 19
Morbidity Rates
• Incidence is helpful for the study of acute diseases,
e.g. infectious diseases of short duration.
• Prevalence helps in studying chronic conditions, e.g.
Diabetes, arthritis etc.
20. 20
Disability Measures
• Restricted Activity Days. Wherein a person cuts down
his usual activities due to illness or injury.
• Bed-Disability Days. Wherein a person stays in bed
for more than half of the normal wake hours because
of illness or injury.
• Work Loss Days
• School Loss Days
21. 21
Life Expectancy
• It is the only positive health measure among the
traditional indicators.
• It is defined as the Average number of years of life
remaining.
• It must be specified for a given age. E.g. life
expectancy at birth.
22. 22
Modern Innovations
• The recent emphasis on more positive health indices
has prompted efforts to quantify many desirable
features of life that were formerly reported in purely
subjective terms. These include
a. Years of Healthy Life
b. Quality Adjusted Life years
c. Self Assessment of Health
23. 23
Health Risk Appraisal
• It involves the simultaneous assessment of the major
risk factors to which an individual or community may
be exposed in regard to specific health threats.
• For this a health habit questionnaire is used.
24. 24
Elements Of Health Risk
Appraisal
There are three essential elements.
• An assessment of personal health habits and risk factors
based on questionnaire and supplemented by biomedical
measurements.
• A quantitative estimation of qualitative assessment of
individual’s future risk of death or other adverse outcomes.
• The provision of educational messages and counseling
25. 25
What Is Health Education
• Health Education is a process that informs, motivates,
and helps people to adopt and maintain healthy
practices and lifestyles, advocates environmental
changes as needed to facilitate this goal and conducts
professional training and research to the same end.
26. 26
Defining Health Education
“Health education is the process by which individuals and
group of people learn to” :
• Promote
• Maintain
• Restore health.
“Education for health begins with people as they are, with
whatever interests they may have in improving their living
conditions”.
27. 27
AIMS OF HEALTH
EDUCATION
1. To develop a sense of responsibility for health
conditions, as individuals, as members of families &
communities.(Promotion, prevention of disease,
early diagnosis and management ).
2. To promote and wisely use the available health
services.
3. To be part of all education, and to continue
throughout whole span of life.
29. 29
Process Of Health Education
• Dissemination of scientific knowledge (about how to
promote and maintain health), leads to changes in
KAP related to such changes.
31. 31
• Control of Communicable and Non-Communicable
Diseases
• Mental Health
• Prevention of Accidents
• Use of Health Services
32. 32
• Sex education
• Special education for groups( f00d handlers,
occupations, mothers, school health etc. )
• Principles of healthy life style e.g. sleep, exercise
33. 33
Health education occurs in a variety of places, these include:
• Schools
• Worksites
• Health care organizations
• Health departments
• Voluntary health agencies
• Community settings
34. 34
Comparison Of Settings
Setting Primary Mission Who is Served?
School Education Children/adolescents
Worksite Produce goods and
services; Make a
profit (if applicable)
Consumers of products and services
Hospitals Treat illness and
trauma
Patients
Community primary
care setting
Prevent, detect, and
treat illness and
trauma
Patients
Health Department Chronic and
infectious disease
prevention and
control
Public
Voluntary health
agencies
Prevention and
control targeted
disease/condition
Public
35. 35
School Health Education
Themes
1. Education and health are interrelated.
2. The biggest threats to health are “social morbidities.”
3. A more comprehensive, integrated approach is needed.
4. Health promotion and education efforts should be
centered in and around school.
5. Prevention efforts are cost-effective.
37. 37
Worksite Health Education
Programs
• Physical activity and fitness
• Nutrition and weight control
• Stress reduction
• Worker safety and health
• Blood pressure and/or cholesterol education and control
• Alcohol, smoking and drugs
38. 38
Health Care Settings
• In the hospital, direct patient education is part of
ongoing patient care and is typically delivered by
nurses and physicians
• Group health education on such topics as diabetes
and prenatal care are also provided
39. 39
Evaluation Of Health Education
Programs
• There should be continuous evaluation.
• Evaluation should not be left to the end but monitoring
should be done from time to time for purpose of
making modifications to achieve better results.
