Abstract
Health education/promotion in the country has been gaining momentum since the 1930s in the country when its role in disease prevention became apparent although it had been in existence as civilization itself where it was in the form of trial-and-error and the use of herbs was prominent (Cottrell, Girvan, McKenzie and Seabert, 2015). During the period of renaissance, society believed that disease was caused by sinning against. The focus during the 1930s was to mitigate the effect and spread of contagious diseases by teaching proper sanitation techniques and finding ways to improve the healthcare system. By the 1950s, with the rise of modern medicine and very high sanitation standards, the concern was no longer on contagious diseases but it was on cardiovascular, cancer and other chronic lifestyle diseases that crept into the country’s population. Collaborating with the government, health educators have designed programs through which the citizens are taught how to lead healthier lifestyles while making medical care accessible to all. Health education has risen as a legitimate profession of its own with official recognition in 1997 and these persons are responsible for teaching people about the value of their wealth (Cottrell Et.al, 2015). This paper examines the transition of health education from communicable diseases to chronic illnesses.
Health Education
Health and health education were always part of society with strong civilizations like the Egyptians had very strict sanitation standards, use of herbs to cure disease and even offered rudimentary vaccination. However, health education as we know it began to take form in the 18th century when it became evident that health education, was an integral part of literacy and it would help students understand more about their bodies and the importance of proper sanitation to avoid contracting diseases (Cottrell et al., 2015). It was, however, poorly understood and developed with no pedagogical systems in place to provide the educators with the right tools to teach the students. It was not until the 1930s realized the importance of health education and its role realized.
According to Cottrell et al., (2015), the rise of the modern sciences brought with it the end of communicable diseases that plagued the continent and wiping out their populations like smallpox, measles and tetanus. The development of vaccines for these ailments as well as the refinement in sanitation has almost eradicated such communicable diseases as well as the rise of sanitation standards facilitated by health educators/promoters. However, a new plague has taken over the country with over 60% of the population being overweight due to the rise of cheap fast foods and the sedentary life the average American leads (Cottrell et al., 2015). Heart diseases, type II diabetes cancers and other inflammatory diseases are the leading causes of death due to the unhealthy lifestyles. Programs such as Healthy People 2020 are evidence that health education while still concerned with sanitation, the main focus is on achieving health of individuals to eradicate chronic lifestyle diseases.
Focus has thus shifted from the communicable diseases to finding ways to mitigate lifestyle diseases. Health education and promotion are now aimed at ensuring that not only students but also other citizens adopt healthy lifestyles of exercise and a well-balanced diet as preventive measures. The educators also have a role in the three levels of prevention. Primary measures include actual preventive measures, the secondary measures such as teaching the importance for screening for early detection and possible reversions of the disease and successful treatment and finally, the tertiary measures where they provide education to those living with the conditions on how to manage them (Cottrell et al., 2015). Thus, health education/promotion proves to be an integral part of any education system with the key role it plays in ensuring the health of a population.
References
Cottrell, R. R., Girvan, J. T., McKenzie, J. F., and Seabert, D. (2015). Principles and Foundations of Health Promotion and Education, 6thed. Boston: Pearson Education.
