The Role Of Health Promotion In Health Care System Of The

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The aim of this report is to examine health promotion and the role it plays in the UK health care system. Epidemiology, health education, and its importance are also discussed. Health preventatives, individual behaviour change towards health approach as well as health empowerment were also looked into. Previous studies on health promotion were reviewed and analysed in order to arrive at a definite conclusion. Examples were also given in numerous cases in order to clearly portray the points of discussion.

Keywords: Health promotion, epidemiology, health education, health prevention

2.0 HEALTH PROMOTION

2.1 The meaning of Health Promotion

The concept of health promotion has enjoyed series of definitions. Maurice, et al (2017) defined health promotion as a process of empowering people to increase control over their health. According to the health promotion works to improve health literacy, build a better environment and strengthen the social networks. John et al (2017) gave a similar definition by describing health promotion as a process of enabling people to improve their health in order to reach a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. Meanwhile, Gerjo, et al (2015) defined health promotion in a slightly different way. They described health promotion as a planned combination of education, politics, policies, and supports from organisations in improving and protecting health.

The above definitions all point to one direction. For the health to be promoted appropriately, every party has to play their parts efficiently. Individuals are expected to play a role in it, organisations are expected to comply, even social and political counterparts are expected to have a hand in facilitating improved and protected health.

3.0 EPIDEMIOLOGY

Epidemiology is defined as the study of how diseases manifest in different groups of people living and different locales and the reason why it occurs that way (NCBI, 2020). Epidemiological studies are vital studies that scientists use to determine the pattern in which a class of disease may occur so that they can effectively prevent them. Epidemiological discoveries do not necessarily expose the causal factor of the disease under study, rather it focuses on proving that a certain risk factor can cause the infection of the disease, relating to a particular group of individuals in the society who have higher risks of being infected (CDC, 2020). Epidemiology was developed by health researchers and scientists in order to determine the causes of diseases like smallpox, chickenpox, polio, and typhoid which are mostly transmitted by contact. Since then, it has largely expanded to other complex, non-communicable diseases like cancer, sickle-cell anaemia, and others (Payne, 2017).

A good example of what epidemiology does is obtained in the study of health scientists on smoking (Samet, 2016). It was generally discovered that despite the fact both smokers and non-smokers all suffer from cancer; smokers were discovered to be more liable to suffer from cancer than non-smokers. Therefore, cancer can be contracted as a result of the behavioural traits of smokers. The study of the health factor of both parties is what led to that final inference. This is what epidemiological studies tell us.

In order to properly distinguish the variations of diseases according to people or location, epidemiology is broadly divided into two namely: Descriptive and Analytical epidemiology.

References:

1. Maurice, B., Kickbusch, I., Rootman, I., Scriven, A., & Keith Tones (2017). Health Promotion. [Online]. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128036785001922
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3. John, H. & Richmond, J. (2017). Alma-Ata and Primary Health Care: An Evolving Story. [Online]. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128036785000175 [Accessed on Feb 3, 2020].
4. Gerjo, K. & Vries, N. (2020). Health Education and Health Promotion. [Online]. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780080970868920555 [Accessed on Feb 1, 2020].
5. NCBI (2020) Epidemiology. [Online]. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7993/
6. CDC (2020) Introduction to Epidemiology. [Online]. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/csels/dsepd/ss1978/lesson1/section1.html
7. Payne, S. (2017). Virus Transmission and Epidemiology. [Online]. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/csels/dsepd/ss1978/lesson1/section1.html
8. Samet, J. (2016). Epidemiology and the Tobacco Epidemic: How Research on Tobacco and Health Shaped Epidemiology. [Online]. Available at: https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/183/5/394/2195696