P5- Explain the role of health promotion in improving public health
The promotion of health is self explanatory really, health promotion is a way of promoting health, but
what is the role of health promotion in improving public health and how does it do so? Well, below I will
explain the role of health promotion in improving public health.
The role of health promotion in improving public health
“Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their own
health and living conditions.” Health Promotion Glossary, 1998. Health promotion is seen widely to both
improve and protect public health. You see interventions and initiatives that aim to improve and protect
public health including the 5 A DAY program, National No Smoking Day, immunisation, recycling targets
and the Pollution Prevention and Control regulations. The role of public health promotion plays a big
part in public health as a whole, and how well public health is.
Health promoting plays a big part in today’s modern public health crisis’s such as the ongoing COVID-19
pandemic, diabetes concerns, the ongoing national weight concern and other issues that lead to poor
health such as smoking or drinking alcohol. To prevent such detrimental poor health, we have health
promotion which is done a number of ways, with some including raising awareness about healthy
behaviours for the general public and communication. Such strategies are involved to do so including
public servicer announcements, mass health and media campaigns, newsletters and yearly health events
and campaigns for example “world tuberculosis day”. Health promotion plays a big part in our lives and
the Ottawa charter, is a big reason why health promotion is so successful, the charter stipulates what
health promotion should involve to be inclusive and ultimately effective.
Health promotion activities commonly involve “communication, education and policy, systems and
environment” Communication involves raising awareness concerning healthy behaviours to the public,
education involves empowering, encouraging behaviour change through increased knowledge and
education and policy, systems and environment involves making changes through law, regulations and
policies to empower, make available, encourage and enable healthy choices. Each of these concepts are
essential in carrying out health promotion and they each in their own way enable health promotion to
take place and healthy choices to be considered and made.
All in all, health promotion improves public health in great ways and continues to do so to carry on
improving the health and development of our nation so we can live long lives, free from ill-health and
various detrimental disease and illnesses. Health promotion has a big role of improving public health,
but what is the role of health promotion in improving public health and how does health promotional
enable public health to be improved.
, Enabling people to exert control
Health promotional as we know plays a big role in improving public health, and health promotion itself
allows the public to exert control, take their health into their own hands and improve public health.
Health promotion enables individuals to exert and increase their control over their own health and know
right from wrong. The government have taken health promotion seriously in recent years and promoted
various areas or poor heath, to educate the public on such areas and allow them to exert control on
what they do with such matters, whether it be changing their diets, lifestyles or not. The government
can promote all they like and give the opportunity to the public, however, they cannot force them to
adhere, it’s up to the public to exert control and take matters into their own hands, but they can only do
so, if health promotion is carried out so they can become aware of how to improve their health and
common health concerns. Health promotion campaigns that have allowed the public to exert control
and take matters into their own hands could include No Smoking Day, Stoptober a more relevant
smoking anti-smoking campaign that lasts for 28 days which challenges smokers to give up cigarettes for
28 day, or healthy eating campaigns such as Veganuary an annual health promotion challenge that
promotes and encourages a vegan lifestyle for a month in January yearly. In such campaigns and
initiatives, the government have promoted health to public in ways of bettering their health by eating
better or quitting smoking for a day, in an attempt to improve public health. Such promotion campaigns
also include change4life and Drinkaware, which have also been influential in enabling the public to exert
control. The No Smoking day campaign has been said to over helped over 1.2 million smokers stop
smoking on that day according to statistics.
Health promotion has a role in enabling people to exert control. Health promotion programs and tactics
allow and aim to empower and engage individuals to make the right choices for their health and make
healthy choices, to better themselves, their health and reduce the risk of life-threatening diseases,
conditions and ill-health. It has a role in allowing the public to exert their power and control and choose
how they perceive health and their life. It allows better informed decisions concerning health to be
made and allows public health to be protected, improved and maintained. If public health strategies do
not enable the public to exert control, how can public health be bettered, healthier informed choices be
made, and control be given?
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