Health Education and its Importance

According to WHO;Health education is any combination of learning experiences designed to help individuals and communities improve their health, by increasing their knowledge or influencing their attitudes”.

Health education is necessary as it helps promote, improve, maintain and restore the health of an individual and make eligible to help another person as well. Furthermore, people can take online doctor consultation to get information regarding health education.

The point of health education is to make a person aware that the health is affected by environment, physical activities, and food consumed. If these factors are maintained and a proper regime is followed on regular basis then major diseases, premature death, and disability can be avoided.

Also, it helps to enhance the quality of life of an individual, which results in the development of a community and contribute in progress of a country.

Some of the benefits faced by an individual and communities altogether are as follows:

Adoption of healthier lifestyle: Lifestyle is one of the vital factors that affect an individual’s physical as well as mental health. Healthier lifestyle includes keeping the environment clean which helps reduce pest infestations, sickness and diseases such as dengue, malaria, etc.

Keeping the environment clean also explains how smoke and pollution affects the environment and it should be reduced for the proper functioning of body organs. It increases longevity and reduced mortality rate.

Prevention of diseases: Through health education, an individual becomes aware of the fact that “prevention is better than cure”. This helps them get better access to the knowledge of basic prevention method of diseases. Communicable diseases and epidemic in an area is a hazard to health, however these can be avoided if there is proper exposure to the knowledge.

There are diseases that have specific measures to prevent them and all individuals should be aware of these preventive measures. These prevention measures help them reduce the chance of infecting with diseases.

Population being aware of vaccines for diseases such as hepatitis B, or wearing a mask at the time of flu to prevent infection; these are part of implementing health education in daily life.

Regular medical check-ups: Health education encourages an individual to go for a routine check-up as it helps in the diagnosis of underlying health conditions, if any. Also, regular medical check-up also gives a hint of genetic vulnerability to certain diseases.

People in general tend to ignore certain changes in the body taking it as weather change or some allergy. However, these symptoms may be the reason for some serious health condition growing in the body. People who are able to reach clinics, doctor’s offices, hospitals should ask for diseases prevention measures and also the treatment of medical conditions. The best way is to find a doctor online and seek consultation.

People should be aware of vaccines and flu shots during annual flu season, or at the time of the outbreak of some infectious diseases. Health education is about the public being well informed about the necessary treatments and prevention of spread of illness.

Prevention of spread of diseases: To prevent the spread of communicable disease from one person to another, knowledge of the disease and respective preventive measures are a must. Health education plays an important role in educating people about such diseases and safety measures to be followed.

The outbreak of epidemic or flu season poses a serious risk to the health of each member of a community despite the age factor. However, applying preventing techniques can help from getting infected.

Elimination of Myth: People rely on myths passed to them from generations without any proof. However, following them can make the situation adverse. When they are given proper information and knowledge, the myths and perceptions that they have formed are dismissed.

Health education aims to make people aware not only of the diseases but also of the transmission methods. This helps a community to avoid transmission. Health education also promotes empathy rather than discrimination. The education encourages communities to stay intact.

Dispel unhealthy habits: People tend to follow certain habits unintentionally those are not healthy and causes severe effects on health. Some of the unhealthy habits are listed below:

• Smoking
• Biting nails
• Alcohol
• Overeating
• Skipping breakfast
• Avoiding lunch breaks
• Improper sleep
• Wearing bad shoes
• Driving instead of walking short distances
• Being overstressed
• Not drinking enough water
• Being lazy
• Eating junk food
• Overuse of computer and mobile phones

These habits do not seem harmful initially but in long run they affect the health adversely. Health education help people acknowledge the harmful effects and provide knowledge to overcome these habits.

Accepting health disparity: Some common health disparity faced by an individual affect the mental health of an individual. Health education focuses on helping an individual in overcoming these disparities. Some of the disparities faced by people of any community are listed below:

• Gender health disparity
• Racial or ethnic health disparity
• Socio-economic health disparity
• Rural health disparity

Health educators educate a community at a time and look into the common matters going on which have a direct impact on the health of an individual. Later, solutions for such problems are brought up and imparted to people.

Health education helps in building one’s skills, knowledge and positive attitude about health. Health education includes knowledge about mental, emotional, physical and social health. It motivates an individual to prevent disease, maintain health and reduce risky behavior. The education also helps to develop a skill which will help to make healthy choices throughout their lifetime.

Health education prevents the risk of:

• Alcohol addiction
• Drug abuse
• Injury
• Mental trauma
• Sexuality and diseases