HEALTH EDUCATION

AKSHAY RAJU BADORE

MPT-COM
DEFINITION

• Health education is the translation of what is known about health, into desirable
individual and community behaviour patterns by means of an education process.
• 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 the part of health care that is concerned with promoting healthy
behaviour.
ALMA-ATA DECLARATION (1978)

The Declaration of Alma-Ata (1978) by emphasizing the need for “individual and community
participation” gave a new meaning and direction to the practice of health education.

The dynamic definition of health education is as follows :

“a process aimed at encouraging people to want to be healthy, to know how to stay healthy, to do what
they can individually and collectively to maintain health, and to seek help when needed”
AIMS & OBJECTIVES

• To encourage people to adopt and sustain health promoting lifestyle and practices;
• To promote the proper use of health services available to them;
• To arouse interest, provide new knowledge, improve skills and change attitude in making rational
decision to solve their own problems; and
• 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.
 PRINCIPLES OF HEALTH EDUCATION

Health Education brings together the art and science of medicine & the principles and practice of general
education.
• Credibility - It is the degree to which the message to be communicated his pursued as trustworthy by the
receiver.
• Interest - It is psychological principle that people are unlikely to listen to those things which are not to
their interest. Health educators must find out the real health needs of the people. Psychologists call them
felt needs that is needs the people feel about themselves.
• Participation - Participation is a keyword in health education.
• Motivation - In every person there is fundamental desire to learn, awakening this desire is called
motivation. There are two types of motives primary and secondary. Primary motives (e.g. sex, hunger,
survival) are driving forces initiating people into action; these motives are inborn desire. Secondary
motives are based on desire created by outside forces. Some of the secondary motives are praise love
rivalry rewards and punishment and recognition.
• Comprehension - In health education we must know the level of understanding, education and
literacy of people to whom the teaching is directed.
• Reinforcement - If the message is repeated in the different ways, people are more likely to
remember it.
• Learning by doing - Learning is an action - process; not a "memorizing" one. The Chinese
proverb "If I here, I forget; if I see, I remember; if I do, I know" illustrates the importance of
learning by doing.
• Known to Unknown - Starting with what people understand and then proceed to unknown
knowledge.
• Setting an example - The health educator should set a good example in the things he is
teaching.
• Good Human Relations - Sharing of information, ideas and feelings happen most easily
between people who have a good relationship.
• Feedback - It is one of the key concepts of the systems approach.
• Leaders - In the work of health education, we try to penetrate the community through the local
leaders the village admin the school teacher or the political worker.
CONTENTS OF HEALTH EDUCATION

• Human biology- Understanding health, demands an understanding of the human biology, i.e., the
structure and functions of the body; how to keep physically fit - the need for exercise, rest and
sleep; the effects of alcohol, smoking and drugs on the body; cultivation of healthy lifestyles, etc.
• Nutrition - The aim of nutrition education is to guide people to choose optimum and balanced
diets, remove prejudices and promote good directory habits.
• Hygiene - This has two aspects - personal and environment. The aim of personal hygiene is to
promote standards of personal cleanliness within the setting of the condition where people live.
Personal hygiene includes bathing, clothing, washing, care of nails, feet and teeth etc.
Environmental hygiene has two aspects - domestic and community. Domestic hygiene comprises
that of the home, use of soap, need for fresh air, light and ventilation etc. In the developing
countries, the emphasis is on the improvement of basic sanitary services consisting of water
supply, disposal of human excreta, other solid and liquid wastes, vector control, food sanitation
and housing which are fundamental to health.
• Family Health - The family is the first defence, as well as the chief reliance for the well being of its
member.
• Disease Prevention and Control - Education of the people about the prevention and control of locally
endemic diseases is the first of 8 essential activities in primary health care.
• Mental Health - The aim of education in mental health is to help people to keep mentally healthy
and to prevent a mental breakdown.
• Prevention of Accidents - Accidents occur in three main areas : the home, road and the place of
work. Safety education should be directed to these areas. It should be the concern of the engineering
department and also the responsibility of the police department to enforce rules of road safety.
• Use of Health Services - Many people particularly in rural areas do not know what health services
are available in the community. Studies indicate that the public attitude towards health services is
still apprehensive. There is a communication gap between the public and the state health
administration in the form of feedback for the improvement of health services.
PRACTICE OF HEALTH EDUCATION

Educational material should be designed to focus attention to provide new knowledge, to facilitate
interpersonal and group discussion and to reinforce or clarify prior knowledge and behaviour.

(A) Audio-visual aids - No health education can be effective without audio visual aids. They help to
simplify unfamiliar concepts; bring about understanding where words fail; reinforce learning by
appealing to more than one sense, and provide a dynamic way of avoiding monotony.

 Auditory Aids- Radio, tape-recorder, microphones, amplifiers, earphones.

 Visual Aids –
(a) Not requiring projection - chalkboard, leaflets posters, charts, exhibits, models. specimens etc.
(b) Requiring projection - slides, film strips.
 Combined A-V AIDS - television, sound films, slide-tape combination.
(B) Methods in health communication –
The methods in health communication may be grouped as –
1. Individual Approach
 Personal Contact
 Home Visits
 Personal Letters
2. Group Approach
 Lectures
 Demonstrations
 Discussion Methods – Group Discussion, Panel Discussion, Symposium, Workshop, Conferences,
Seminars, Role Play
3. Mass approach
 Television
 Radio
 News Paper
 Printed Materials
 Direct Mailing
 Posters
 Health Museums and Exhibitions
 Folk Methods
 Internet
PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

The specifies of a health education strategy in a local community have to be formulated in accordance
with its socio-cultural, psycho-social, political, economic and situational characteristics.
Health education planning follows the main steps in scientific planning, which are :
• Collecting information on specific problems as seen by the community
• Identification of the problem
• Deciding on priorities
• Setting goals and measurable objectives
• Assessment of resources
• Consideration of possible solutions
• Preparation of a plan of action : what will be done? when? by whom?
• Implementing the plan
• Monitoring and evaluating the degree to which stated objectives have been achieved
• Reassessment of the process of planning. Planning and evaluation are essential for effect to health
education.
ADMINISTRATION AND ORGANIZATION

• Governments have a responsibility for assisting and guiding the health education of the general
public. At the national level the, Government of India in 1956 established a Central Health
Education Bureau in the Ministry of Health, New Delhi to promote and co-ordinate health
education work in the country. Many state governments in India have now Health Education
Bureaux in their Health Directorate.
• There are also other official agencies in the country such as the Directorate of Advertising and
Visual Publicity (DAVP), Press Information Bureau, Doordarshan and All India Radio which are
active in health education work.
• A new division of Health Education and Health Promotion has been established by the WHO. The
division will support regional offices of WHO in strengthening national capabilities in health
education and promotion, and develop and test new ideas and tools.
• Health education is a complex activity in which different individuals and organisations play a part.
Among them are parents, teachers, friends, physicians, nurses, health workers and various
organisations governmental and non governmental.
THE ONLY THING MORE EXPENSIVE
THAN EDUCATION IS IGNORANCE…
THANK YOU