Question

Analyze how cultural practices of a population may impact the effectiveness of public health practices

Answer 1

Definitions of Public Health

• Science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health and efficiency through organized community effort.
• Successive re-definings of the unacceptable.
• Fulfilling society's interest in assuring conditions in which people can be healthy.

- Cultureis a combination of behaviors and beliefs that are learned and shared.

- Culture operates in multiple domains, including family, social groups, individual growth, communication, religion, art music, politics, and economy.

- Culture varies greatly across different societies.

- So, is important to understand how certain cultural practices affect health, because if they affect the health of the population in a negative way, these cultural behaviors need to be changed. However, this can be difficult, considering that cultural practices are often deeply embedded in traditional societies, and many individuals are unwilling to change their behaviors.

- Knowing how these practices affect health, and how important they are to the people, can help public health professionals create programs to change these unhealthy behaviors while still keeping people connected to their culture. - They can also educate community leaders, to try to implement healthy practices by creating a community change, led by the leader of the culture.

- Because culture is so important to many societies, when trying to change health behaviors it is important to ensure that interventions are respectful of cultural beliefs, and that they can become accepted by the community.

Examples:

- Cultural practices that are health promoting:

• monogamy
• Using condoms
• washing hands.

- Cultural practices that are harmful to health.

• Open defecation
• culturalpreferance for heavier women
• food taboos