Health promotion is about raising the health status of individuals and

communities.

Health promotion is an umbrella term for the range of activities carried out in
various settings, with various groups which tackle causing ill-health

Decline in infectious disease rates, and the emergence diseases linked to

unhealthy lifestyles such as coronary heart disease and cancer, also
supported this change in public health focus.
Increasingly, chronic diseases were viewed as being created in parted by the
individual behavior and life style choices, and subsequently efforts to
encourage individuals to make lifestyle changes became a key focus of public
health work.

Health education - defined as planned learning experiences to facilitate

voluntary change in behaviour to develop consciously pursued health-directed
behaviour.

Emerged as a discipline within public health movement during the late 1800s,
early 1900s - primary aim concerned with encouraging behavioural change.

The emergence of health education is often linked to the rise of the

temperance movement in the UK.

Mass health education programme to deal with 1st World War soldiers
returning home with some form of venereal disease (20%).

Views and values held health and health determinants influences health
professionals and politicians decisions about which health promotion
strategies or approaches should be used.

Health promotion is characterised by the use of diverse approaches, and all

have strengths and limitations.

No single approach is or has been responsible for improvements in the health

status of individuals and/or populations.

Prerequisites for health

Peace

Shelter

Education

Food

Income

A stable eco-system

Sustainable resources

Social justice and equity

5 approaches to health promotion

1. Medical or preventive - To prevent disease
2. Behaviour change - To ensure people are well informed and able to make
healthy choices
3. Educational - To help people to acquire the skills and
4. Empowerment - confidence to take greater control over their health
5. Social change - To change policies and environments in order to facilitate
healthy choices

Strengths of Health Promotion Campaigns may include

Help to raise awareness of health issues
Generate discussion
To motivate people to make changes
Highlight a problem
Inform people
Explain consequence of undesirable behaviour
Can reduce incidence of illness and disease morbidity rate
Can reduce mortality rates
Meet health targets as set by the government
Provide support e.g. Free phone numbers for smokers to quit.

Weaknesses of Health Promotion Campaigns may include

Can result in groups becoming immune to health messages and so they may
be ineffective
People do not like being told what to do
People can become confused with the conflicting messages from various
campaigns/organisations
Can be difficult to get the information across to the target audience
People can simply ignore campaigns
People refuse to believe that they could be affected