Health promotion

Health Promotion: Reviews Sanjiv Kumar’s “ Health Promotion: an Effective Tool for Global Health”, s that health promotion is all about enabling the members of a community to take full control over their health and its determinants, and in so doing, improving their health. His definition has been borrowed from the World Health Organization perception. According to Kumar, the core role of the nurses in health promotion is to address the various public health challenges. The nurses have to ensure that the community members attain the enjoyment of their lives by always living in good health. Nurses have to achieve this goal by employing a range of holistic approaches that involve the engagement of the community. The great evolution of nursing roles and responsibilities began in the early 19th Century. Health promotion was first introduced in 1945 and had four major facets. These included the prevention of diseases, restoration of the very sick patients, rehabilitation and the general promotion of community health (Kumar, 2012). In the medical world of today, health promotion has taken a wider angle and nursing roles have been diverted from the traditional curative services to other developments and education that directly or indirectly influence the general health of the community in different aspects such as dietary, cultural beliefs and the risks of individual behavior. Nurses have implemented the modern health promotion using these aspects as the key guidelines. The community has been encouraged through various teachings to embrace the new prevention and treatment methods and abolish their outdated cultures. More emphasis has been on the behavior health problems.
The World Health Organization (WHO), Health Promotion, defines Health Promotion as the process of enabling people to increase control over, and improve their health (WHO, 2014). The World Health Organization has a wide range of health focus that goes beyond behavior and lifestyle changes. The core objective of WHO is to corporate with the member nations worldwide in enhancing their capability for health promotion among the citizens. This international organization encourages health providers to emphasize on evidence- based approaches. It stipulates that nurses should increase their scope of practice and reach the internal communities. It is in this very line that nursing health promotion has evolved. In the earlier years, the health providers used to work on their own without involving the community in improving their health. Nowadays, the views and suggestions of patients and families have been put into considerations during policy making by health institutions. Evidence- based practice has enabled the nurses to work hand-in-hand with the patient diagnosis of diseases. The roles of nurses have been expanded from wards to the field work and education. According to WHO, the implementation of health promotion should not only be limited to a specific health problem or behavior, but on a wide range of health aspects. This is the strategic principle applied by the WHO. It also recommends that nurses consider education, legislation and regulation of the communicable diseases. In particular, the youth should be educated on the behavior health problem so as to curb to the diseases that arise from bad behaviors. World Health Organization, on its own, has implemented the health promotion through its regular seminars and conferences.
O’Donnell (2009) defines health promotion as the art and science of helping the community to discover its synergies between its major passions and optimal health, enhancing its motivation to endeavor for optimal health, and supporting its members in changing their lifestyle move towards optimal health (O’Donnell, 2009). According to O’Donnell (2009), optimal health is the equilibrium of emotional, physical, spiritual, social and intellectual health. In this article, the author outlines the main purpose of the health providers in health promotion as ensuring that all the individuals in the society attain and balance all these aspects of optimal. Any slight imbalance affects the optimal health. The old nursing practices, O’Donnell (2009) thinks, concentrated on the physical health and ignored these other aspects of health. Therefore, optimal health could not be realized. It was then that the most effective nursing intervention practice came into play. It was discovered that all these aspects are inter-related such that social health of an individual could affect his physical health. Evidence-based practice had to be implemented by the nurses. More weight was banked on the social health as it was seen as the central factor. Through public education, nurses started to advocate for better lifestyles by creating awareness on different non-communicable diseases such as diabetes. Until today, health providers have helped the community build better life skills through regular public education. Unlike Kumar (2012) and WHO (2014), O’Donnell (2009) introduces a new dimension of health promotion; motivation. He argues that for the patients to respond positively to these teachings, he (the patient) must be motivated by the facilitator. Nurses must conduct regular follow-up programs to ensure that their clients stick to the right track.
Reference
Kumar, J. (2012). Health Promotion: An Effective Tool for Global Health. Indian Journal of Community Med, 37(1), 5-12
O’Donnell, M. (2009). Definition of Health Promotion: Embracing passion, Enhancing motivation, Recognizing Dynamic Balance, and Creating Opportunities. America Journal of Health Promotion, 24(1), 4-16
World Health Organization. (2014). Health Promotion. World Health Organization Journal, 86 (11), 817- 908.