Friday, May 1, 2009

Health Promotion

Year 12 have just got exam results back. Some happy people and some grumpy people, but lots of potential and promise. We're starting to look at Health Promotion. Yep, its Ottawa Charter time again! The WHO describes health promotion as 
" the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. To reach a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, an individual or group must be able to identify and to realize aspirations, to satisfy needs, and to change or cope with the environment. Health is, therefore, seen as a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living. Health is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities. Therefore, health promotion is not just the responsibility of the health sector, but goes beyond healthy life-styles to well-being."
There's a link to the WHO website in my list. I like the 'countries' section, where there are some detailed health profiles of all the member nations. There are some startling comparisons!
I notice there is some info about the "swine" (influenza A H1N1) flu outbreak. The WHO does actually focus much of its attention on infectious "outbreaks" like this when they occur, providing advice and monitoring. Apparently they don't know how long people have to be quarantined before they are no longer infectious with this disease. In Mexico the whole country has shut down to reduce the spread of the virus.

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