StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

The Impact of Health Inequalities on Health Education and Health Promotion - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
This paper will discuss the impact of health inequalities on health education and health promotion. Health is not only the absence of infirmity or illness, but also state of complete mental, physical and social well being. Different people have different perceptions about being healthy…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER93.3% of users find it useful
The Impact of Health Inequalities on Health Education and Health Promotion
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The Impact of Health Inequalities on Health Education and Health Promotion"

?Discuss the Impact of Health Inequalities on Health education and Health promotion. Health is not only the absence of infirmity or illness, but alsostate of complete mental, physical and social well being. Different people have different perceptions about being healthy. It is very commonly believed that being in perfect shape and beautiful means being healthy (K M. Clark 1999), and to stay healthy one needs to eat nutritious food, do exercise and stay clean. When we fail to fulfil the conditions of staying healthy, it causes illness, which if not properly dealt with, may result in permanent ailments and even death. The main factors that lead towards state of being unhealthy are poor diet, obesity, pollution, unhygienic conditions, illegal drug usage and lack of exercise. Other reason for the rapid increase in the spreading of diseases is globalization. With millions of people crossing borders every day, and with the trade and exchange of food production, manufacturing and marketing, the risk of disease transmission increases manifold (Motarjemi et al, 1997). The dynamic way of living nowadays does not allow us to eat properly. Our eating habits are shifting from healthy food towards fast and junk food. We prefer to pick up a pizza or a hot dog, for lunch, rather than a healthy meal, since we no longer have the time for proper meals anymore. Most of the stomach problems, like ulcers, arise due to fast food. Unhealthy food and lack of exercise is one of the main reasons of heart diseases. In their study, Michalsen, Konig and Thimme (1998) stressed that many hospital admissions for decompensation of chronic heart failure in patients can be prevented if healthy food and proper medication is provided. Good hygiene does not only help in keeping oneself healthy, but also prevents diseases and infections from spreading. Hygiene, sanitation and water supply are closely related. Lack of sanitation facilities, poor hygiene and inadequate quantity and quality of water cause millions of people in the world to suffer from diseases like diarrhoea, intestinal worms, anaemia and retarded growth, which eventually leads to death. Underdeveloped countries are mainly facing such problems. Diarrheal illness constitutes the leading cause of death among the children in developing countries (Guerrant, Kirchhoff, Shields, Nations, Leslie, de Sousa, Araujo, Correia, Sauer, McClelland, Trowbridge and Hughes, 1983). Due to these disparities in the economies of developed and underdeveloped nations, there are a lot of discrepancies in the health standards of the people of these countries as well. Health inequalities refer to gaps in the quality of health and health care across sexual orientation, racial, socioeconomic and ethnic groups. A marked difference can be seen between the health conditions of developed and underdeveloped countries. The better the economy of a country, the better is the state of health. Health disparities exist between differing socioeconomic groups. The lower socioeconomic group have poorer health and higher rates of chronic illness, obesity, hypertension and diabetes. Differences also lie in access to health care between the two classes. Usually people in deprived areas receive less care than needed. Whereas the affluent areas have easy access to almost all kinds of medication and health care. Within a country, we can also see difference in the health standards between different racial groups. For example; in America, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans and African Americans have higher mortality, higher rate of chronic disease and poorer overall health conditions. There is a need to change life styles of people to help them live a better and healthy life. This could be achieved through health promotions and educating them about health issues. Health promotion enables people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. It moves beyond a focus on individual behaviour towards a wide range of social and environmental intervention (WHO, 2011). Health promotion aims at influencing, informing, and supporting individuals and organizations so that they accept more responsibility and be more active in matters affecting mental and physical health. Health promotion can be performed in various locations such as community, health care facilities, schools, and worksites receive special attention. When it comes to health promotion, one can say that the health literacy is vital to it (Schmidt, Fahland, Franze, Splieth, Thyrian, Danielzik, Hoffman & Kohlmann, 2010). There is an immense need to make people understand the importance of health. Health education is a learning experience which helps individuals or communities to improve their health, by increasing knowledge or influencing their habits and attitudes. Health education is an effective tool to make underdeveloped countries aware of their health problems and improve their standards of health. This not only benefits the immediate recipients but also the future generations. Health education can prove to be very significant as it enhances life style and reduces premature deaths. Health education focuses on prevention, which reduces cost that individuals, communities and countries would spend on medical treatments. Most importantly it improves the health status of individuals and then the countries. A country with healthy individuals and communities tends to prosper more as healthy people work more efficiently. Worldwide, NGOs and government agencies are making considerable efforts in the region of health promotion. Some of these projects are international and/or multinational; World Health Organization and its Regional Offices such as the Pan American Health Organization have been influential in health promotion around the world. A France based organization, The International Union for Health Promotion and Education, holds regional, national and international conferences. While some organizations are working on national level such as Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand, Ministry of health promotion and Canadian Health Network, for the advancement of health promotion. One of the visible health promotion activities are lifestyle campaigns which are aimed at discouraging people from taking part in deeds likely to damage their health if continued. In such campaigns there are attempts to persuade policies relating to health or environmental factors impinging on the disease, such as introducing legislation to ban smoking in public places and under-age drinking. National campaigns are taking place each year, to co-ordinate activities and improve uptake and awareness public. The new trend is celebrating day or week dedicated to a particular cause, e.g. World AIDS Day, National Epilepsy Week or World Cancer Day (Public Healthy, 2008). These days (or weeks) are dedicated in spreading knowledge about the particular disease and ways how to prevent it. It is a very useful and cheap way of educating underdeveloped country as these campaigns are very much supported by the media. One very widely used campaign is “Every cigarette is doing you damage.” The objective is mainly to increase smokers’ knowledge about the cumulative damage done by every cigarette and major health effects of smoking. It is also aiming at ex smokers to stay stopped and increase the number of smokers who will seriously consider quitting smoking. To support this campaign papers were published like Smoking Kills which identified smoking related diseases (HPA, 2009). Reuser, Bonneux and Willekins (2009) research showed that smoking decreased Life Expectancy with 7.2 years, and Life Expectancy with disability with 1.3 years in men and 1.4 years in women. The first person who can be held responsible for one’s health is the person himself. As discussed earlier, by taking proper meals and staying clean, many diseases and trips to the hospital can be avoided. The education level, socioeconomic status and healthfulness of surroundings add to health outcomes. Doctors are often heard saying that if they can get their patients do what they want those patients to do, the patients will be better off. Now the question arises, is the patient only one responsible for the health and hygienic conditions? Do the civilization and the health care system of which we are a part provide us with suitable options? For instance, can diabetes patients get the healthy foods which they are instructed to eat? Are such foods affordable and available? Can heart disease patients exercise safely in their community? Even if asthma patients are taking their medicines, can they be assured that the dust in their apartment or the diesel bus that passes on their street will not make them short of breath? (Betancourt and Quinlan, 2007). With public health practitioners, the entire health community, industrialists, media, politicians and each and every citizen is responsible for the state of health of the community, country and the world. Government plays an important role in providing awareness regarding how to stay healthy and solving health related issues. Government have the power of financing, organizing, overseeing, and delivering health care. Government is also responsible for getting care to people who wouldn't otherwise have it; the underprivileged, the disabled, and the aged, many of whom could not afford it on their own. The government's role in health and health care does not end here but it goes into the realm of encouraging new discoveries related to health affairs (HPB 2009). There are some Government Organizations like U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps which are working to promote, protect, and advance the health and safety of the United States. Members of PHS often serve on the frontlines in fighting diseases and poor health conditions. They are trained and equipped to respond to emergencies such as natural disasters or terrorist attacks and public health crisis. Health care costs are continuously arising, resulting the government, employers and consumers to struggle to keep up with the increased costs. Major policy of the health care units is to cut off the costs. Rising federal deficit with an overall slowdown in the economic growth is also putting strain on the systems used to finance the health care. Things are made more complicated by the health disparities within the nation. The health care units have to divide their funds for improving the conditions in the rural areas and conducting health awareness programmes for them, and for research purposes. Bibliography Health Promotion, Public Health(y), 2008, viewed 21 Feb. 2011, http://www.publichealthy.com/healthpromotion.htm Betancourt J R, and Quinlan J, 2007, ‘Personal Responsibility Versus Responsible Options: Health Care, Community Health Promotion, and the Battle Against Chronic Disease’ preventing chronicle diseases, vol. 4, no. 3, viewed on February 22, 2011, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1955416/ Clark K. M, 1991, Importance of Being Healthy, eHow, viewed on February 21, 2011 from http://www.ehow.com/about_4812268_importance-being-healthy.html Guerrant R. L, Kirchhoff L.V, Shields D. S, Nations M. K, Leslie J, de Sousa M. A, Araujo J. G, Correia L.L, Sauer K.T, McClelland K. E, Trowbridge F. L and Hughes J. M, 1983, ‘Prospective Study of Diarrheal Illnesses in Northeastern Brazil: Patterns of Disease, Nutritional Impact, Etiologies, and Risk Factors’, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, vol. 148, no. 6, pp.986-997, viewed on February 21, 2011 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/30133824 Health Public Agency, 2009, Every cigarette is doing you damage, Health Public Agency for Northern Ireland, viewed on 21 Feb 2011, http://www.healthpromotionagency.org.uk/work/Tobacco/campaigns1.htm Health Policy Briefs, 2009, Key issues in Health Reform, Health Affairs, viewed 22 February 2011, from http://www.healthaffairs.org/healthpolicybriefs/brief.php?brief_id=10 Kaferstein F. K, Motarjemi Y, and Bettcher D.W, 1997, ‘Food borne disease control: a transnational challenge’, Emerging infectious diseases, vol. 3, no. 4, viewed on February 21, 2011, pp. 503-510, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2640096/ Michalsen A, Konig G, and Thimme W, 1998, ‘Preventable causative factors leading to hospital admission with decompensated heart failure’, Heart and Education in heart, vol. 80, no. 5, pp.437-441, February 21, 2011, fromhttp://heart.bmj.com/content/80/5/437.abstract Reuser M, Bonneux L. G, and Willekens F. J, 2009, Smoking Kills, Obesity Disables: A Multistate Approach of the US Health and Retirement Survey, Obesity, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 783-789, viewed on February 22, 2011, from http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v17/n4/abs/oby2008640a.html Schmidt C. O, Fahland R. A, Franze M, Splieth S, Thyrian J. R, Danielzik S. P, Hoffman W, and Kohlmann T, 2010, ‘Health-related behaviour, knowledge, attitudes, communication and social status in school children in Eastern Germany’, Health Education Research, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 542-551, viewed on February 21, 2011, from http://her.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/4/542.abstract World Health Organization, 2011, Health promotion, World health organization, viewed on February 21, 2011, from http://www.who.int/topics/health_promotion/en/ Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“The Impact of Health Inequalities on Health Education and Health Essay”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/environmental-studies/1408207-the-impact-of-health-inequalities-on-health-education-and-health-promotion
(The Impact of Health Inequalities on Health Education and Health Essay)
https://studentshare.org/environmental-studies/1408207-the-impact-of-health-inequalities-on-health-education-and-health-promotion.
“The Impact of Health Inequalities on Health Education and Health Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/environmental-studies/1408207-the-impact-of-health-inequalities-on-health-education-and-health-promotion.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The Impact of Health Inequalities on Health Education and Health Promotion

Tackling Health Inequalities

Furthermore, those who benefit most from social, fiscal and health advances are usually not those who are in greatest need.... In the paper “Tackling health inequalities” the author analyzes health inequalities, which are the differences found in different aspects of health between different groups in society, the differences in health between those who are rich and poor in society.... Despite the government's commitment to tackle the problem, health inequalities in Britain continued to increase, according to new research from the University of Bristol....
12 Pages (3000 words) Term Paper

How does income affect health

Many researchers and analysts support the idea that there is a strong direct correlation between level of income and health.... Moreover, people with good income can afford education and in school they learn more about health and wellness, thus health awareness is broadened through knowledge.... Individuals' level of income is a major determinant of health, both proximal and distal, because the rich can This paper discusses how level of income affects health from the narrow perspective of considering its effect to an individual to the broader perspective of considering income inequality as a major determinant of standard of public health....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Understand the Socioeconomic Influences on Health

The major socioeconomic factors that have significant impact on health include income and social status; physical environment; health services; education and social support networks (World Health Organisation, 2014).... The primary aim of this part of the essay is to explore the influence of the key socioeconomic factors on health with a critical assessment of relevance government sources in reporting on inequalities in health.... According to the unconventional global environment, socioeconomic factors have major impact on health....
14 Pages (3500 words) Essay

Objectives of Baby Baby Health Care Education Program

The proposed study primarily focuses upon organising the health education programmes especially for young parents and their children.... health education refers to a particular program that is deemed to be mainly responsible for promoting healthy living standard of people.... People are paying more attention towards maintaining good health condition, where they could lead a healthy life for a longer duration of time.... It is quite important for people to… Currently, with the major developments in medical science, the infant health care sector has been showing improvement with regard to its facilities....
10 Pages (2500 words) Essay

Health Promotion at Tackling Coronary Health Disease

The paper “health promotion at Tackling Coronary Health Disease” will try to answer the following research questions.... nbsp;Conclusion: The literature review helped to conclude that the UK Government has been, to a great extent, successful in implementing effective health promotion techniques to prevent CHD among South Asian women in the UK.... Through the health promotion techniques, the government has been creating awareness, educating the South Asian women regarding the health hazards of CHD and trying to reduce the risk factors associated with the identified issue....
37 Pages (9250 words) Essay

Ottawa Health Promotion Strategies

The paper 'Ottawa health promotion Strategies' presents the Ottawa charter which is a document that was produced by the World Health Organization.... The Ottawa Charter has identified health promotion strategies in five action areas: Build healthy public policy, create supportive environments, strengthen community actions, develop personal skills, and reorient health services.... Te Rau Hinengaro: The New Zealand Mental Health Survey, 2006, Ministry of health shows that about 47% of New Zealanders will experience a mental illness and/or an addiction at some time in their lives, with one in five people affected within one year....
7 Pages (1750 words) Case Study

The Impact of Health Inequalities on Health Education

This work called "the impact of health inequalities on health education" focuses on health care costs, the quality of health, and health care.... Health inequalities refer to gaps in the quality of health and health care across sexual orientation, racial, socioeconomic, and ethnic groups.... Whereas the affluent areas have easy access to almost all kinds of medication and health care.... The better the economy of a country, the better is the state of health....
6 Pages (1500 words) Article

Socioeconomic Factors and Health Outcomes

The paper “Socioeconomic Factors and health Outcomes” analyzes the correlation between the poverty and health inequalities in marginalized groups.... hellip; The relation of income and health in the United Kingdom has been in the focus since time immemorial.... It is no doubt that inequalities in health do exist and there is a strong association between socioeconomic factors and health outcomes.... In addition, the way of life of a community exposes the particular community to health inequalities....
10 Pages (2500 words) Research Proposal
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us