The Importance Of Health Education
Health education should not only be youth-centered. Find out more!
Health education is a fundamental pillar for any country and any society today. It is a process whose purpose is to ensure that the population acquires sufficient knowledge and skills to enable them to make good health decisions.
While many people believe that health is the absence of disease, health is a concept that encompasses many other aspects. Health must be understood as a state of social and personal well-being.
In addition, it is important to take into account that, in order to enjoy good health, it is necessary to encourage individual responsibility. This is because we all influence each other.
In this article, we explain the importance of health education to you. You will also learn more about the methods put in place for its promotion.
Health education, how do you define it?
In recent years, health education has gained in importance and is now seen as a basic process within education and society. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health education as:
Other authors define this concept as a process by which people learn to behave in a way that promotes the promotion, maintenance or recovery of health. Roughly speaking, it is about adopting healthy lifestyle habits.
This process goes even beyond simply adopting good habits. It should allow each of us to develop a critical mind when making decisions about health, the goal being that each person takes care of his own health and that of others.
Health education also makes it possible to analyze all the factors that influence the health of a population. It prompts us to examine, for example, the environmental, social or economic causes of disease or health problems.
What methods are in place for health education?
Like any other educational process, there are several methods of health education.
First of all, there are the direct or bidirectional methods. These methods are those in which the role of the educator and that of the listener are established. In order to be able to put these methods into practice, there must be a certain proximity between the educator and the listeners. It can be a class where the teacher transmits his knowledge on the subject or a group discussion.
These methods also include health content discussions and dialogues. A doctor who, during a consultation, offers a series of recommendations to his patient is a clear example of dialogue.
On the other hand, there are the indirect methods, also called one-way methods. One person sends a message that can reach more people through media such as television.
Among the indirect methods are audiovisual and sound media. Flyers, signs, newspapers, radio or even movies can help develop health education.
The importance of the Internet
Today the Internet is, of course, one of the fundamental tools in health education. It is the greatest source of information there is. The problem is that the information is not always true or adequate.
That is why it is imperative to know how to use this tool. This includes making sure to consult reliable and educational sources. There are more and more applications and programs aimed at promoting, in a certain way, good health and healthy habits.
Finally, this last point deserves to be mentioned: health education must not only be the concern of young people, the collaboration of the entire population must be encouraged. It is never too late to start awakening your consciousness and take responsibility for your health.
