Health Education
&
Approach to Health Education
Health Education
• “a process aimed at encouraging people to want to be healthy , to know how to stay healthy, to do what they can individually and collectively to maintain
health and to seek help when needed.”
APPROACH TO HEALTH EDUCATION
Regulatory approach
Service approach
Health education approach
Primary health care approach
REGULATORY APPROACH Definition:
Any government intervention, direct or indirect,designed to alter human behaviour, which may range from
prohibition to imprisonment.
Aim • :
To change human behaviour and bring about •
improvement in health education through various laws .
Child marriage restraint act in India
use of seat belts
Prohibition of smoking at public places
Regulatory approach
Advantages
• Simplest
• Quickest Disadvantages
• cause of disease cannot be eradicated
• laws cant be passed in areas of personal choice.
e.g. to eat balance diet, not to smoke
not to drink alcohol
Beneficial in
Emergency
Control of epidemic
Management of fairs and festivals
SERVICE APPROACH
• First tried by
BASIC HEALTH SERVICES
AIM: To provide all the health services needed by the people at their door steps on
assumption that people would use them to
improve their own health.
BUT WHAT WAS THE OUTCOME?
It was not based on the felt needs of the people.
BODH GAYA EXPERIENCE BODH GAYA EXPERIENCE A hundred house village established
in Bihar with Srilankan initiative.
Two room concrete houses with attached indoor flush toilet were provided.
But even after 6 months of allocating houses, the toilets remain unused and housewives prefer to
• People will not accept a programme or service, even if it is offered free of cost, unless its not based on their felt needs
Health Education Approach
• Some problems can be exclusively solved only through health education approach
• CESSATION OF SMOKING
• USE OF SAFE WATER SUPPLY
• FERTILITY CONTROL
• In Liberia, Government launched a programme for
drilling of wells to make available fresh drinking water.
• However, many people preferred to use muddy polluted water, perceiving clean water as “TOO THIN”.
• This situation could have been avoided if well drilling program had an inbuilt component of health
education.
WHAT IT REQUIRES?
• Educating people through planned learning experiences.
INFORMATION
EDUCATION
ENCOURAGEMENT
DECISION ADOPTION
Advantages
1.Approach is consistent with democratic
philosophy which doesn't order the individual.
2.Results are slow, but enduring.
The MASS MEDIA and SOCIAL ORGANISATIONS must be mobilized to help introduce new attitudes and new habits without conflicting with the masses and the collective reaction to particular change.
• Since attitudes and behavioural patterns are
formed early in life, we must move back in time and start health educationwith young people
North Karelia had the highest mortality from heart disease
throughout the world 20 years ago. But these values have slashed to half
Because of educating the YOUTH regarding change of diet and persuading
Primary Care Approach
• New approach starting from the PEOPLE with their PEOPLE full participation and active involvement in the
planning and delivery of health services based on principles of primary health care, which are
community involvement and intersectoral coordination.
• AIM: To help people become self reliant in matters of
HOW TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL?
• It can be achieved if the people receive the
• necessary guidance from health care providers in identifying their health problems and finding
workable solutions.