Over the course of the years, the healthcare sector has apparently changed its major modes of delivery of service and strategy development especially in regard to population based prevention strategies (Novick & Morrow, 2001). This has been necessitated by the shift in health determinants which previously entailed environmental, biological and agent-based determinants such as food and water-borne diseases and transmission of infectious diseases to the contemporary determinants which include the broader aspects of biological, environmental, lifestyle and the role and structure of healthcare organizations. One of the major goals of any prevention-based strategy is to reduce the risks and prevalence of illnesses to a larger section of the society (Novick & Morrow, 2001).
Currently, the focus has been rendered on the major health determinants including the social, economic, education factors all which tend to influence the lifestyles of the population. In the contemporary society for instance, the prevalence of chronic illnesses, all which have a correlation to the lifestyles and behaviors of the population (Novick & Morrow, 2001). This has necessitated focus on broader issues of nutrition, violence, injury prevention, substance abuse and tobacco-use that have been identified to have a significant impact on prevalence of chronic illnesses (Novick & Morrow, 2001). These events and the apparent revolutions in approaches to population-based prevention strategies signify a changing demographic setting on health issues and disease prevalence (Glanz & Bishop, 2010).
In this regard, the need to limit the influence of cultures and communities towards poor health status and use the same as cultures and communities in improving the health status is inevitable (Novick & Morrow, 2001). This means that nurses and key stakeholders in the healthcare sector need to place focus on imparting skill and knowledge into the population so that they can safeguard their health, at community level and at individual level (Glanz & Bishop, 2010).
This signifies that as much as focus of prevention strategies is currently on populations, the focus on individuals in of utmost important and thus they supplement each other as opposed to acting exclusively (Novick & Morrow, 2001). It is only when the individual members of the society are well versed on their personal health and the need for self-care aspects in health management that they can relay the same aspects to other community members. Population-based prevention strategies in the same manner as individual-based prevention strategies are not static and will evolve with the demographic, cultural and lifestyles patterns of the society (Novick & Morrow, 2001).
References
Glanz, K., & Bishop, D. B. (2010). The role of behavioral science theory in development and implementation of public health interventions. Annual review of public health, 31, 399-418.
Novick, L. F., & Morrow, C. B. (2001). Defining public health: Historical and contemporary developments. Public health administration: Principles for population-based management, 3-33.
