Health education is not just something for some individuals to benefit from but the entire communities can profit from it too. Here you can learn more about the definition of health education, the history of the field, and its role in society.
This tutorial is going to teach you some stuff about health education. It is a type of education planned for individuals or the public at large to obtain the knowledge, skills, value, and attitudes necessary to maintain, promote, improve, and restore their, or another person’s health.
Let’s start with the historical foundation, philosophy, and function of health education in society.
History of organized modern health education
The history of organized modern health education doesn’t go back much. Still, the entire field of health education and promotion has been around for millennia in one way or another.
The roots of health education lie with the ancient Greeks as well as many other educations. These guys were absolutely smart. They were the first people to, at least somewhat, realize that a person’s health was not affected by some supernatural nonsense and that things like a person’s diet, activities, and environment played a key role in diseases.
Consequently, the ancient Greeks systematized concepts related to public health policy, education, and the development of skills related to elevating an individual’s and a society’s health.
In terms of a modern-day view, health education in its modern form started to come into being around the 1970s, with the foundation of the President’s Committee on Health Education. This was founded by President Richard Nixon.
Subsequently, more important developments began to happen, including the foundation of a National Center for Health Education in 1975, also the creation of the Department of education, and the contemporary version of the Department of Health and Human Services around 1980. Therefore, the true modern era of health education began in the U.S.
Philosophy & Function
The main goal of health education is to bring in knowledge from many different sources, including biology, psychology, ecology, medicine, and many others. The knowledge is based on these and other fields, then used to prevent disease, promote health, and perhaps even cure an individual’s illness.
Health education struggles to develop key knowledge and some skills in individuals, institutions, and even communities in order to improve everyone’s health knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
In summary, health education attempts to helpfully affect the health behaviors of the public at large level and at the level of the individual. It also serves to positively affect or educate a person about their work environment as well as their natural surroundings, ones that might influence their health.