Changing Concept of Health Education

Historically health education has been committed to disseminating information and

changing human behaviour. Following the Alma-Ata Declaration* -adopted in 1978, the
emphasis has shifted from :

* Prevention of disease to promotion of healthy lifestyles;

*The modification of individual behaviour to modification of “social environment” in which

the individual lives;

*Community participation to community involvement; and

*Promotion of individual and community “self reliance”.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES of Health Education

The definition adopted by WHO in 1969 (15) and the Alma Ata
declaration adopted in 1978 provide a useful basis for formulating the aims and objectives of
health education, which may be stated as below:

1. To encourage people to adopted and sustain health promoting lifestyle and practices;

2. To promote the proper use of health services available to them;

3. To arouse interest, provide new knowledge, improve skill and change attitudes in making
rational decisions to solve there on problem; and

4. To stimulate individual and community self- reliance and participation to achieve health
development through individual and community involvement at every step from
identifying problems to solving them.

 The educational objective are aimed at the group to be taught in the educational
programme. The objectives flow from the health needs which have been discovered.
They should be carefully unambiguously defined in term of knowledge to be
acquired, behaviour to be acquired or action to be mastered. They must be pertinent if
the program is to be appropriate and successful.

 The focus of health education is one people and one action . Its goal is to make
realistic improvements in the basic quality of life. Many health education programmes
hope, in some way, to influence behaviour or attitudes. The fact remains the effective
health education has the potential for saving many or lives than has any one research
discovery in the foreseeable future. The definition adopted by John M last is" The process
by which individuals and group of people learn to behave in a manner conductive to the
promotion, maintenance or restoration of health.
 “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”

ALMA-ATA Declaration

The Declaration of Alma-Ata was adopted at the International Conference on Primary Health
Care, Almaty, Kazakhstan, 6–12 September 1978. It expressed the need for urgent action by
all governments, all health and development workers, and the world community to protect
and promote the health of all people. The Alma-Ata Declaration of 1978 emerged as a major
milestone of the twentieth century in the field of public health, and it identified primary
health care as the key to the attainment of the goal of “Health for All by 2000.”Essential health
care based on practical, scientifically sound & socially acceptable methods & technology made
universally accessible to individuals & families in the community through their full participation &at
the cost that the community and the country can afford to maintain at every stage of their
development in the spirit of self-determination.

ROLE OF HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS

It is clear that education is necessary, but education alone is not sufficient to achieve optimum
health. The role of health care providers in this regard comprise of:

1.To provide opportunities for people to learn how to identify and analyze health and health related
problems, and how to set their own targets and priorities.

2. Make health and health related information easily accessible to the community.

3. Indicate to the people alternative solutions for solving the health and health related problems
they have identified.

4.People must have access to proven preventive measures.