Disease Prevention and Health Promotion - Importance and Activities

Introduction

Disease prevention and health promotion are two sides of the same coin. Both aim at developing a positive health environment in individuals and communities. Disease prevention focuses on reducing the development of chronic diseases and preventing them from becoming morbid. In contrast, health promotion aims at improving overall health conditions. Disease prevention and health promotion depend on a person's attitude to develop a positive health outcome.

Health status can be impacted by social determinants like economic, cultural, social, and political conditions. Certain modifiable risk behaviors may contribute to the development of chronic diseases. These factors include poor eating habits, excess tobacco consumption, and a lack of physical activity.

What Is the Determination of Health?

Five major determinants of health include:

• Genetics and Biology - Chronic conditions like thyroid gland problems (increased or reduced secretion of thyroid hormones), cataracts (the lens of the eyes appears cloudy leading to vision problems), diabetes (a metabolic condition that causes elevated blood sugar levels), and many major diseases occur due to genetic factors.

• Social and Economic Factors - Due to poor economic status, many people cannot get the appropriate treatment, which can result in the severity of the disease.

• Health Behaviors - The general population needs to be aware of maintaining a healthy diet and regular exercise, which can make a person disease-free.

• Clinical Care - Clinical care plays an important role in medically compromised patients, as proper care with medicines and periodic monitoring under the guidance of doctors and healthcare professionals are very important.

• Physical Environment - When it comes to the physical environment around health and social care settings, the area must be appropriate and safe for the patients, the staff, and visitors.

How To Promote Health?

There are three strategies to promote health:

• Working Efforts: Good health is a major factor that plays a key role in social, economic, and personal development and is a vital dimension of the quality of life. Economic, social, political, cultural, environmental, and biological factors can either function in favor of health or can be harmful.

• Mediating: Meditation promotes mental and, in turn, physical health. Professionals, social groups, health personnel, and others have a major responsibility to mediate between different societal interests in order to pursue good health.

• Enabling: Enabling includes access to life skills, information, and opportunities that help make healthy choices. People cannot achieve their full health potential unless they can control the things that determine their health positively.

What Are the Principles of Health Promotion?

There are five principles of health promotion which include:

1. A broad and positive health concept.

2. Participation and involvement.

3. Action and action competence.

4. Setting perspective.

5. Equity in health.

What Is the Role of Health Promotion?

Practices that promote health have developed in response to an increase in the rates of chronic conditions. A multidisciplinary team has evolved that has started programs that help find the right path for individual and community health promotion.

One can improve the quality of life by improving individuals, families, and the community's health status. By managing their diet, improving physical activities, stopping smoking, avoiding excessive alcohol, and other modifiable risk factors, people can improve their quality of life and reduce the risks of chronic diseases and premature deaths.

What Are Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Programs?

Promoting health and wellness involves direct self-control and adherence to diet and self-behaviors. It is a cumulative approach of both individuals and the community.

Healthcare programs focus on specific efforts to reduce the development and progression into the severity of chronic disease and other morbidities. The programs are designed to help people achieve and enjoy optimal health by

• Helping people identify the target state.

• Helping individuals to discover their strengths and needs.

• Supporting the community to achieve a good health goal.

What Are the Activities that Promote Disease Prevention?

Typical activities that promote health prevent disease, and the associated wellness programs include

• Communication: Raising awareness in society about healthy behaviors for people, which is good for their health, including regular exercise, eight hours of sound sleep, less stress, and a balanced diet. It is very important for society to be aware of good or bad health and to be free to consult a doctor if needed.

• Education: Contributing to behavior change and actions through increased knowledge provided by courses, training, and support groups. Through education, people can know whether they are attentive or liberal for their health and maintain a regular diet with adequate amounts of minerals, vitamins, and protein. Through education, the maximum population can know the body's general needs, and they do not have to consult a doctor for small things.

• Policy, System, and Environment: Making systematic changes through improved laws, rules, and regulations, functional organizational components, and economic, social, or physical environment to encourage, make available, and enable healthy choices.

• Health Promotion: Health promotion and disease prevention aim at better outcomes and quality of life; in most cases, both terms are used simultaneously to promote a healthy individual and community. Health promotion aims to empower individuals and communities to opt for healthy behaviors and decrease the risk of chronic diseases through primary prevention. At the same time, disease prevention focuses on reducing chronic disease, development, and severity through secondary and tertiary prevention.

What Are the Aims and Objectives of a Wellness Program?

There are many benefits to promoting wellness programs, including

• Wellness programs are designed in such a way as to empower and engage people and groups to inculcate healthy behaviors and make changes that lower the risk of developing chronic diseases or other morbidities.

• Wellness programs accumulate community resources to train, support, and encourage individuals to pursue well-being in the dimensions of a person's social, emotional, environmental, intellectual, occupational, and spiritual life.

• The programs help patients understand the importance of looking after their health and be very attentive toward any changes in the body, including signs and symptoms of any chronic conditions.

Conclusion

Organizing health programs that involve awareness among people and educating them to achieve a healthy lifestyle is very important. Education about disease prevention and health promotion has become pivotal in recent times due to various factors like an unhealthy lifestyle and increased stress. It includes several programs responsible for indulging in the wellness of society and helping clinics and hospitals by providing the major equipment required for dealing with surgeries and procedures.