Question

Think about the different areas in health science that involve educating individuals and communities in order to promote health. Find an areas that particularly interests you and research more about it. This may be done through appropriate websites, interview with professionals in the field, visits to organizations or educational meetings, or reading. Find out what professionals do, what type of education they provide, to whom, and how.

Answer 1

When I think about the different areas in health science that involve educating individuals and communities in order to promote health, what comes to my mind is the control of epidemics/pandemics, lifestyle diseases, hereditary diseases, family planning and population control, geriatric care, mother and baby care etc. Among these, an area of interest for me is lifestyle diseases. The major lifestyle diseases are diabetes, obesity, hypertension, heart disease, liver cirrhosis etc. These are all silent killers and are comparatively more dangerous but easy-to-control diseases. In general, lifestyle diseases can be defined as diseases caused because of a particular person's lifestyle or habits.

There are two types of lifestyle-disease patients; one group follows a particular disease-causing lifestyle because of ignorance and the other group doesn’t follow a healthy lifestyle because of their own reasons. The first type can be easily educated and they will follow healthy lifestyle habits if they live in such a situation or if it is possible. The second group, on the other hand, finds it difficult to change their habits even if it is for better health outcomes. Lifestyle diseases can be avoided by healthy eating, regular exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, abstinence from substance abuse, etc. Several diseases can be cured just by following a healthy diet, which reminds me of what Hippocrates said "let thy food be thy medicine."

Patient education is of utmost importance in controlling lifestyle diseases. Patient educators/healthcare professionals do this in several ways. They will provide and dos' and don'ts' list for exercise, diet etc with short-term and long-term goals. They conduct community-wise surveys and conduct educational programs or meetings for these communities based on these surveys. They also visit individuals and educate them on a one-on-one basis and provide educational leaflets etc. Healthcare professionals also advise patients during hospital/clinic visits and give them video links etc. Often the more risky communities or groups are targeted for a lifestyle disease education program after conducting surveys.