Health Education

Defination:
The defination adopted by national confrence on Preventive Medicine in U.S.A. is as follow. Health education is a process that informs ,motivates and helps people to adopt and maitain healthy practices and life style , advocates environmental changes as needed to facilitate the goal and conducts professional training and research to the same end

Changing concepts:

Following the Alma-Ata declaration in 1978 emphasis has shifted from, .Prevention of disease to promotion of healthy life styles. .Modification of indivisual behaviour to modification of social environment in which the indivisual lives. .Community participation to community involvement.

OBJECTIVES

1.Informing the people

The first directive of health education is to inform the people or disseminate scientific knowedge about prevention of disease and promoting of health . Exposure to knowledge will melt away the barriers of ignorance , prejudices , and misconceptions, people may have about health and disease. This creates an awareness of health needs and problems and also of responsibilities on the part of the people.

2.Motivating people Telling the people about health is not enough. They must be motivated to change their habits and the waysof living, since many present day problems of community health require alteration of human behaviour or changes in health practices which are detrimental to health, like pollution of water , cigarette smoking, physical activity etc. The accent should be on motivating the consumer to make his own decision and choices about health matters , that is atwhat kind of health actions to be taken , and when and under what conditions to take them.

3.Guiding into action People need help to adopt and maintain healthy practices and life styles , which may be totally new to them. Governments have a major responsibility to provide the necessary infra structure of health services . People need to be encouraged to use judiciously and wisely the health services avalable to them Governments are now beginning to realise that the services and facilities they provide to improve the socio-economic and health status of the people will not be fully effective unless the people tonot only make use of the services but also undertake various practical self help measure to improve their own status and the communities in which they live in.

Contents
The following contents shoul be the focus of health education. 1.Human biology. 2.Nutrition 3. Hygine 4.Family health care 5. Control communicablle and non-communicable diseases. 6.Mental health 7.Prevention of accidents.

PRINCIPLES
1.intrest:
It is a psychological principle that people are unlikely to listen to those things , which are not of their intrest. Health taeching should relate to the interest of the people. If a health programme is based on felt needs , people will gladly participate in the programme and only then it will be a peoples programme.

2. Participation:
It is a key word in health education . Participation is based on psychological principle of of active learning; it is better than passive learning.Group discussion , panel discussion ,workshop all provide opportunities for active learning.

3.Known to unknown In health education work , we proceed from the kown to unknown , I,e, start where the people are and with what they understand and then proceed to new knowledge .New knowledge will bring about a new , enlarged understandings , which can give rise to an insight into the problem.