Health Promotion

Task 1 Socio-Economic Influences On Health

The socio economic factors that are responsible for inequality in health and create differences in health status are identified as below -

A major percentage of population it still living on low income. It becomes very difficult for them to manage their daily care needs. The low income has a direct impact on accessibility to nutritious food and healthy living. People with high income potential have access to health food along with health and medical insurances to cover the cost of medical expenses (Pender, Murdaugh, & Parsons, 2002)

Illiteracy and lack of knowledge also have a direct bearing on health status. Uneducated people do not have understanding on the consequences of unhealthy food and need to maintain a routine healthcare life. Many people either do not have access to the basis education or due to social factors imposed on girl child they are deprived of necessary education regarding health benefits.

The social support group and connection with the culture also impacts the behavior of people about disadvantaged surroundings and circumstances. Many communities still wants to stick to their traditional beliefs and thoughts and have a different opinion for the health issues.

The cleanliness in the nearby environment and housing facility also impact the quality of health of the people living in the area (Bandura, 2004). The factory and industrial waste dumped by the owners polluted the nearby environment and affects the health of the residents.

In context with the early childhood development the access to nutritional food is essential in the growth years of human beings. Lack of food and nutrition in growth years impacts the growth and in terms of fighting ability of the body.There are many areas in the world which still does no have access to basic health care facilities. Either the medical professionals are not available to the areas are too remote that facilities do not reach in time (McKenzie, Neiger, & Thackera, 2009).It is also equally important tot have regular and nutritional food supply for every human being to maintain healthy living. Many children are deprived of sufficient notional in early childhood that results in inability of their immune system to fight with diseases.

The national governments around the world are active in identifying the health inequalities among the citizens of the nation. People in any part of the world want a healthy life. The national governments are also concerned with the health and medical needs of the nation. National governments introduced many initiatives to reduce the disparities of inequality of health. Every year the national government evaluates the data and measures the outcomes of the initiatives taken at national and local level. The data is representing the result of various initiatives by the government and society to create a healthy living. The national governments form policies and directives which are then independently implements by the regional government at the local level. The national government allocates funds as per the need and requirements of health and medical facilities of the region (Glasgow, Lichtenstein, & Marcus, 2003). The local and regional officials are responsible for the effective and efficient implementation of initiatives.

It is not doubt that initiatives taken by the government have proved effective in the last many decades. It is because the governments' source which reports about the inequality of health status in society has generated the need for initiatives and actions to promote equality in health. The national governments are concerned for the health of their citizens because unhealthy people are incompetent for the growth of the economy (Glanz, Rimer, & Viswanath, 2008).

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The government efforts in providing basic medical facilities to remote areas have reduced the death rate. The initiatives for free medical facilities for poor people have increased the access to all class of people. Also, the initiatives to educate people for health living, food and cleanliness of the environment have reduced the spread of contagious diseases which have caused thousands of lives in the past. Thus it can be said that government play very crucial role in addressing issues related to health inequalities in UK.There are many barriers to the health care access which causes the increasing diseases and disparities among the people in different parts of the world. The differences in healthcare access to healthcare in the population cause disparities in health status. The differences arise for several reasons and some of them are described as below -

Several groups of the society categorized on the basis of race and ethnicity do not have adequate health insurance to cover the cost. These groups delay the basic healthcare needs and more prone to diseases (Baranowski, Perry, & Parcel, 2002).Unavailability of finance is also a significant barrier that reduced the access to minority groups. Minority groups may have services available but are limited by the providers.Women still have larger proportion of unmet healthcare needs as compared to men (Noar, Benac, & Harris, 2007). Women's are often deprived of getting necessary medical facilities for the minor health problems.

In many remote areas and small cities, people do not rely on healthcare facilities and care provided by the local sources. The irregularity of healthcare sources affects the availability of treatments. The remote areas are also affected by lack of necessary and basic facilities.Low income group often faces legal problems in obtaining the insurance service to cover their healthcare needs. There are many formalities needed to be fulfilled to access private insurance. The insurance providers due  to monopoly or high cost of the health care requirements do not offer easy access to the services to low income groups because if the patient or the immediate family fails to pay the cost, the services provider have to bear it anyway.

Lack of transport to remote areas and unavailability of healthcare professionals cause long waiting lines for people in need of care. These factors affect the individuals' access to appointments and treatment needs (Bellg, and et. al., 2004).Older people have less financial sources and are dependent which is the main reason that they cannot afford their healthcare needs which is most required in their age group.

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TASK 2 MODELS OF HEALTH PROMOTION

The national government in UK develops health promotion strategies in alignment with the different models of healthcare to ensure that the health objectives reach to maximum people. The UK government has introduced several plans to date in order to prevent people from smoking. The government also conducts market research to identify the issues related to smoking and take measure accordingly. The tobacco plan for England is a government initiative that hopes to reduce the prevalence of smoking in UK. The plan targets adults with emphasis on younger generation and pregnant women. The government has set up a target to reduce smoking by 18% by 2015 which results in approximate 200000 less smokers per year (Chaudhry, and et. al., 2006).

In the past also, the government initiative to decrease smoking have proven beneficial to the society which also see its affects in less diseases due to smoking.  The government focus on educating the smokers about the severe diseases caused due to smoking  have reduce the prevalence rates to 21% in 2009 which was 45% in 1974. The government has also initiated ban on displaying the cigarettes from the shops which may have little affects but have it is helps in reducing the number of smokers (Eysenbach, & Köhler, 2002).

The Local stop smoking services have also proven to be effective way in reducing the tobacco users. The initiative started at the local level and appears to be challenging initially. But its targeted strategies such as providing one to one support, delivering expert opinion to small groups have quantified in reducing the smokers counts positively.

The UK government develop strategies that are linked with the health promotion models and ensures that health strategies and effectiveness is covers as many people in the nation. for any new policy and programme, the government at the national level ensure that local bodies carried out the same with proper efficiency. The government strategies are based on the change models of the community which aims to asses the readiness of the community to change and accept the new health promotion activities.

The national government also ensure that it provides learning practices and communicates the benefits of the new policies and be informed with the behavioral intervention of the community to help them make health choices in their routine.

The health professional play an important role in educating users and non users of tobacco to understand its side effects on their personal health as well as people in their surrounding. The healthcare professions educate users on many aspects such as cost, pro long diseases and affects of family and friends form their smoking. Professional identifies major factors that cause people to start smoking. These factors help to decide on solutions best applicable for them. The various played by professional to meet the government targets and promote healthy living are -

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Healthcare professionals provide understanding and education to people about the bad effects of use of tobacco. They helps them understand with examples about the long term effects of the continue use of tobacco on their health (Eysenbach, Powell, Kuss, & Sa, 2002). Professional also raises awareness between non users to prevent them from starting the use of tobacco and similar things. It is for the purpose that if non users are understood, they will not sue and also prevent other from using it. Professional also form small groups of people who have used and face the consequences. These people from their own experiences can help people to stop using any such substance. The health care professionals performs an important role in educating the society and people on a wider level to help them understand about the consequences of ill health and how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The professional are not only meant to provide services at the occurrence of the health issues or any disease, instead they are aimed to guide the community to maintain a healthy life and avoid any health issues. the health care professionals through seminars and presentation at the local levels and even in remote areas educate the people in their common and understandable languages about the health and issues in the locality and methods to avoid it.

Professional develops communities to promote good health such as creating neighborhoods, cultural communities and interest groups (Cline, & Haynes, 2001). The healthcare professionals also develop emotional, personal and social skills among the population to maximize their health and enable them to build health promotion in their surroundings. They also develop partnerships with key people, organizations who through their initiatives and finances influence public health and promote good health opportunities.

Living a healthy life starts from taking care of daily routine and ensuring that every act of food and diet confirm healthy input. Health cannot be maintained or destroyed in a single day. it takes days effort to maintain good health. This can only be achieved when people start taking care of their routine life. It is not necessary that everyone spend their whole day in gym and equipped with fitness accessories to keep good health. People can follow small things and keep their in good condition all through the life. Daily routines are maintained and enhanced through focusing on four areas -

Good food at regular intervals of hours is a much better option than eating in lot in one to two times in a day. In today busy life, people do not have time to eat and specially health food. But it is equally important to have health meals in short intervals to fulfill the need of the body and keep it working all through the day. People must understand that their body requires equal portion of nutrition and regular supply of healthy food. in today's busy life, people intake unhealthy food at odd intervals of the day. the different times of the day requires different proportions and type of food such in the morning the body needs health an light food while at the lunch time, they can eat good amount of food. In the night again, the body requires light food because usually people go to sleep after they competed their dinner.

It is not necessary to need to spiritual person to practice spirituality. People can develop this habit from their belief in a higher power. The daily practice prevents people from indulging in small issues. It rather opens up the mind, reduce stress and keep focus on bigger picture of life. Spiritual people are considered more balanced towards their view on everything (Raingruber, 2014).

The benefits of rest and relaxing in between the work hours are also important. The mind and body in relaxing hours are more powerful and may solve issues that are unable in when people are awake.

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TASK 3 FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCE HEALTH PROMOTION

The theories have been developed to predict, explain and change the health behavior of people are decided into two main categories -

The first if the Social cognition models which specifies similar set of beliefs and attitudes as an important determinant of health behavior. This model is sub divided into five models -

Health belief model

It explains the reasons people are not using health services of immunization and screening. The model has four constructs - Perceived susceptibility, Perceived severity, Perceived benefits, Perceived barriers, protection motivation theory (Sharma, Atri, and Branscum, 2011). The theory explains the health related behavior of individuals. It is useful in predicting the attitude and beliefs of people through observation. In order to promote healthy behavior among people by encouraging them to adopt healthy choices. For example in order to quit smoking and alcohol misuse individuals ca be made aware of negative consequences of such  fatal habits.

The approach of Self-efficacy theory state two constructs - one that behavior is perceived as self efficacy and second outcome expectancies

The Theory of reasoned action is based on the assumption that social behavior of an individual is under volitional control. It has been observed that stronger intentions lead to increased efforts to perform a desired health related behavior which in turn elevates the likelihood of the behavior to be performed. For instance: individuals who addicted to smoking intend to quit smoking in order to have good health will most likely make efforts for cigarette cessation.

The Theory of planned behavior refers to the behavior of the individual based on the assumption of positive consequences from the personal behavior. For example : in order to encourage breast feeding among mothers the health promotion program may focus on explaining the long term benefits of the practice on the health and well being of newly born infants to mothers.

The second is the stage model which is based on the approach that behavior change involves several stages and sequence of activities. The transtheoretical model is the dominant model in this group. The model explain that there are different stages of the health behavior arises due to different condition of health issues (Tones, and Tilford, 2001). This model

In the present context, organizations in health industry are focused on profit earning opportunities instead of the primary objective of promotion of health. Whether it is medial services or health services, brands are more concerned in increasing revenue generation. On the other side the growing population is facing the consequences of health issues and there are new disease spreading in many parts of the world. On the other hand, national government are trying to provide as many services and facilities to their citizens to reduce the disease and their effects. But it is obvious that when objectives of government and companies are different, conflicts are likely to arise (Goodson, 2010). There is no doubt that organizations are conducting in depth research and development activities to find cure for the diseases and their efforts have proved successful in the past years. But it is also true that companies are costing too much on per unit basis to cover their expenses. The services and facilities are available for people to take the benefits but the costs of such services are beyond the ability of an average income group. This conflict between the local industry and health promotion is creating a gap between the effectiveness of government s

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