helth Education

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 What is Health ?

The World Health Organization defines health as follows:

“Health is the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.”

Some have regretted that this WHO definition of health is too static a formulation, others that it does not refer to two others factors which affect health, namely the natural environment and the transcendental property of the human mind.

M.R. Chakravarti from India describes his concept of health in the following way: ..

“The fundamental determinants of health, apart from the genetic constitution, are nutrition, environment and lifestyle; the health of any rural Indian society is directly linked to it, value system, cultural traditions, socio-economic set up and political organizations. Each of these has a profound influence on the health of an individual or community. Any health education programme cannot be limited to health care delivery, but should also be directed to bring about the cultural, economic, social and political transformation of the society as a whole, through the process of education.”

 

Margaret Brumby from Australia writes as follows:

“Our current research into students' perceptions of health, which involves extensive individual interviews where students explain their understanding of factors which they believe to be important to their own health, supports the emphasis on the health of the individual defined mainly in physical terms. Indeed when we asked them to explain what they thought would contribute to how long they would live, a completely new dimension of categories emerged pollution, luck, accidents, war, heredity all factors beyond an individual's control. What does this finding mean as to how students value the quality of their future lives?”

She also adds:

"It is not very clear what who actually meant by the term 'social well-being'. Health education programmes seem to imply that 'social' means 'interpersonal'. Is not this a very narrow interpretation."

 

Rex Meyer, also from Australia, writes:

"The New South Wales educational system adopts a definition of health consistent with the WHO view. This concept of 'wellness' is reflected in the NSW definition that health is concerned with the total well-being of individuals and their ability to enjoy a healthy lifestyle."

 

The NSW curriculum unit called “Health Studies” defines health studies as:

"that part of the curriculum which is concerned with the development of the total well-being

of students and young people. It incorporates the curriculum areas of Dance, Health Education, Physical Education, Recreation and Sport and refers to aesthetic emotional, intellectual, physical and social

development."

 

Within the area of Health Studies, health education as such is defined more specifically as follows:

“Health education provides learning experiences which influence understanding, attitudes and behaviour in regard to individual, home, school and community health.”

 

The following diagram from the current NSW syllabus document summarizes this position:

 

 

Reserved: physical

 

Reserved: l 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Health education is dynamic in nature. Therefore, to be effective, it requires interaction between the individual, the home, the school and the community to increase the abilities of people to make informed decisions affecting their personal, family and community well-being, and this is reflected in the above.

 

In some countries, the prevention of disease is the major concern and when that is the case, it is reflected in the curriculum, K.C. Pang of the University of Hong Kong writes:

 

“Health education is a method of conveying to the community the knowledge that necessary for the prevention of disease, and the opportunity to lead a full normal life, physically, mentally and socially. This education should include:

 

 

(a)  a basic knowledge of the normal functioning of the body.

(b)  an understanding of the more common ailments.

(c)  the effects that certain habits have on the system.

 

 

 

 


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