Question

What are the similarities and differences between health protection, health promotion, and disease prevention? What are the effects on the population when these areas are inadequately provided or addressed? Have you seen evidence of this in your community? If so where and how? What can you do as an individual, if anything, to alleviate, minimize, or improve the situation?

Answer 1

• Health Promotion - It is the process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve health. It includes health education, environmental modifications, nutritional interventions and lifestyle and behavioural changes
• Health promotion and disease prevention focus on keeping people healthy
• Health protection is the provision of conditions for normal mental and physical functioning of the human being individually and in the group. It includes promotion of health, prevention of sickness, and curative and restorative medicine.It includes Immunization, Clean water, Protection against accidents, occupational exposure, allergens, control air and noise pollution
• Disease prevention focuses on specific efforts aimed at reducing the development and severity of chronic diseases and other morbidities
• Health promotion and disease prevention often address social determinants of health ( social, cultural,economic and political conditions)
• Types of disease prevention- Primary ( Prevention at first place ( immunization), Secondary ( Early detection of disease through periodic health surveillance, Cancer), Teritiary ( prevention of disability, Rehabilitation after injury)
• If a community does not meet this criterias, it causes problems.
• Lack of screening tests may cause cancer. For example- Breast cancer, Cervical cancer
• After menopause, patient may develop osteoporosis. Proper education such as hormone replacement therapy can strengthens bones
• Unsafe sanitations and lack of clean water leads to communicable diseases
• Occupational health is neccessary in all industries or else patient may develop lung cancer due to inhalation of poisonous gas, fumes and the like
• In kerala, may women underwent hystorectomy. It is obvious that they may develop osteoporosis due to lack of circulating estrogen. However, camps to prevent osteoporosis motivates them to undergone hormone replacement therapies and therefore, strengthens bone density
• Sex education is necessary to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancies
• After 50 years screening tests for cancer is necessary irrespective of gender
• People should be educated for sedentary life styles and their outcomes
• Obesity can be prevented by exercises and avoiding junk foods
• Let us hope that current generation would be more optimistic. It is adviced not to be a Couch Potatoes or Mouse potatoes, which may cause diseases
• Smoking cessational advertisement should be necessary