1. Thinking back to the Leading Health Indicator upon which you chose to focus in Module 1, are we “on target” to meet the goal/objectives associated with that indicator by 2020? Please explain your r

HEALTH PROMOTION 6

The Transition from Disease Prevention to Health Promotion

Elizabeth Davis

Trident International University

Dr. Michael Mucedola

29 June 2020

The Ottawa Charter and The Jakarta Declaration

Disease prevention and health promotion initiatives have been used in keeping people healthy. However, as disease prevention focuses on the reduction of advancement and severity of diseases health promotion is more about impacting knowledge and having control over health. Health promotion is about empowering individuals to escalate their control over and enhance their health (WHO, n.d.). There is a connection between health promotion and disease prevention where disease cannot be prevented without promoting health. As the two concepts may be different but connected health promotion is about reducing future occurrence. This reduces both the prevalence rate and incidence rate of diseases. This is why there is a transition towards health promotion which is seen to improve the quality of life while prolonging the lives of people.

The Ottawa Charter and Jakarta Declaration aim at creation of supporting environments especially at the community levels. The impact of the community is big as access to information has made it easier for people to be able and manage and control their health. Chronic conditions like diabetes and heart conditions require access to information and the Ottawa Charter and Jakarta Declaration aim at strengthening the community. They both call on health promotion as a means of people being able to control and manage their health. Increasing the knowledge people have about diseases will ensure the incidence rate and prevalence rates are reduced as the people will be able to change their lifestyles into healthier choices.

Determinants of Health

Health is influenced by factors like environment, behavior, and genetics, physical and socioeconomic conditions. Socioeconomic conditions are both social and economic elements like income, education level, occupation and wealth. These determinants are interconnected as they are influenced by socioeconomic conditions. They are able to affect the health of a person as they affect health outcomes and the health care a person will obtain. People with low socioeconomic status are likely to receive low quality of health as they do not have access to health care, physician bias and relationship with provider (Arpey et al., 2017). The cost of treatment is also high leading to lesser tests than what is required by the physician leading to negative health outcomes. Behavioral, environmental and genetics are connected with socioeconomic status as seen with health compromising behaviors. Health compromising behaviors like smoking, drinking and obesity mostly affect people with low socioeconomic status. Health compromising behaviors increase the risk of chronic diseases like diabetes, cancer, heart conditions and asthma. Health promotion looks at the determinants of health by improving access to health care and limiting health disparities.

Healthy People 2020

Healthy people 2020 are an agenda that aims at improve the health of all populations through improving the lifespan by eliminating preventable diseases, injuries and sudden deaths. The agenda also looks at the disparities in healthcare as it looks at eliminating them and making health care accessible to all populations. The determinants of health are addressed in Healthy people 2020 the improvement of accessibility of health care to all populations. Health People 2020 look at increasing access to health care for all populations which has been a major problem with people with low socioeconomic conditions. Health care being accessible to all populations will improve the health outcomes for people with low socioeconomic conditions. The agenda also aims at having people living longer and healthier lives. This can be done through behavioral change which will ensure that the population adapts healthier habits. This will eliminate health compromising behaviors as the quality of life will improve and the risk of chronic diseases will be eliminated.

References

Arpey, N. C., Gaglioti, A. H., & Rosenbaum, M. E. (2017). How Socioeconomic Status Affects Patient Perceptions of Health Care: A Qualitative Study. Journal of Primary Care & Community Health, 169–175. https://doi.org/10.1177/2150131917697439

Masic, Izet. (2015). Determinants of Health and Health Concepts According to WHO Targets. International Journal of Biomedicine and Health. 3. 16-21.

World Health Organization. (n.d.). Health Promotion. retrieved from https://www.who.int/healthpromotion/conferences/previous/ottawa/en/