Concepts of Population Health, Primary Health Care and Health Promotion - Essay Example

? Concepts of Population Health, Primary Health Care and Health Promotion Lecturer Due to the prevalent situation around the Alberta rural area, I have decided to develop a proposal in order to help address the issue of poverty and health of the community. As a community nurse in the region, I closely monitored the health and poverty situation of the community members, and it is inferentially deteriorating. The rate of unemployment has shot over 20% and theft incidences in the grocery store have markedly increased in the past year. As a community nurse, I also noted multiple signs of anemia, fatigue, and a high level of susceptibility to respiratory infections among members of families of various ages. Smoking is also prevalent in this community, which requires an urgent intervention. There are also concerns about diet adequacy and insufficient funding from the Social Services unable to meet their basic food needs. This requires sensitization and financial support to be accorded to the community. It is also certain that due to the distant urban center where large stores are located, the families cannot make it there to do their shopping and end up purchasing food items in the local stores where food prices are significantly higher. However, such families have accumulated huge debts in those stores and the owners, though sympathetic, cannot extend their customer’s credit lines. The community has also grown pessimistic about both the economic and unemployment situation in the community; however, some parents are still expecting things to turn around. These mentioned situations are demanding and as a community health nurse in the region, I have decided to work closely with the community to promote the situation in collaboration with the small group of local businessmen and farmers who have expressed their concern in developing a food bank to ensure needy families help each other. Therefore, this proposal seeks to integrate the concepts of primary health care, population health promotion, and health promotion in addressing the existing situation in the community. According to the World Health Organization, health promotion strategies can be applied to multiple population groups, diseases, risk factors, and other settings. This is because the strategies of health promotion are neither limited to a particular health related problem nor to a set of specific behaviors. As a community nurse in this case study, I advocate health promotion that will put emphasis on community education, food policy development, community development, and regulations and legislation which are vital in preventing high poverty levels as well as communicable and non-communicable diseases. Action needs to be taken in this community so as to improve the health of the people, especially those who have shown the signs of anemia, fatigue and respiratory infections. The health promotion strategies influence most of the underlying factors and those that determine the health of the community members. This approach is recognized by both health promotion and population health. As a nurse, I would work with the community in constructing a population health promotion model in order to develop strategies that would curb the deteriorating health status of the community. In reference to the population health promotion, the following action areas need to be addressed in order to curb the existing situation in the community: Building healthy public policy which ensures that all the public and private sectors are committed to health promoting situations Creating a supportive environment that recognizes the nature of the rapidly changing society Strengthening the community action in order to facilitate the ability of the community members to make decisions and set priorities on issues affecting their health Developing personal skills to impart knowledge and skills on community members that can help them meet their daily life challenges and make contributions to the society Reorienting health services in order to create systems focusing on the community needs and inviting partnerships and collaborations among the users and providers of health services (Lalonde, 2006). Nevertheless, it will also be a wise idea to develop factors to be considered in determining general health of the community and addressing the shortfalls in health. This will also ensure that the health status of the community is improved and the level of poverty is cut down. Some of the factors that will need to be assessed include: Assessing the social status of and distributing income to the general community through increasing the degree of control that the community has over the circumstances of life Creating networks for social support in order to support the families and community in general, in dealing with the prevailing difficult situations Raising community awareness of and education on poverty and health Creating employment and improving working conditions in order to curb the increasing unemployment rate which is at 20% now Improving the physical environment such as food and water supply, housing and community security and safety Developing personal health practices and coping skills among the community to help prevent the confirmed respiratory infections and fatigue and enabling the community to cope with the wanting poverty situation Availing health services to the community, both preventive and curative ones, to promote the health of the community (Evans, 2003). In addition, various elements of primary health care will need to be incorporated in the community in order to help in reducing the current poverty and ill health situation in the community. Primary health care is fundamental care that is based on scientifically sound, socially acceptable and practical methods and technology, which is universally made accessible to the families and individuals in the community through the full participation of the subjects at affordable cost, both to the community and the country, in order to maintain the spirit of self-determination and self-reliance. The community in the case study will need this in order to take charge of their life, especially those showing conditions such as anemia and respiratory infections. This is because of the following reasons: Primary health care evolves from and reflects political and socio-cultural characteristics and economic conditions of the community Primary health care addresses the major health related problems in the community and provides preventive, promotive, rehabilitative, and curative care Entails and includes education and awareness that concerns the methods of controlling and preventing the prevailing health related problems in the community Involves all related aspects and sectors of community and national development such as housing, education, and agriculture among others (Evans, 2001). These features of primary health care will help the community in addressing their challenges if properly implemented, hence the essence of writing this proposal. Through implementing primary health care elements in this case study community, the principles of primary health care will ensure the community gets solutions on their food and health problems. It is, therefore, recommended that the principles of primary health care be practiced in this community. The following are some of the recommended principles: Availability, accessibility, acceptability and affordability of health services to ensure the delivery of health services to the community Providing basic, essential and quality health services to the community, which include regular monitoring of devaluation of health of the community Improving and supporting community participation through creating awareness and conscious building on health problems Promoting self-reliance among community members through training people in management and leadership skills Social mobilization through establishing health referral systems and collaboration between non-governmental and government organizations Recognizing the relationship between development and health through converging food, health, nutrition, sanitation, water and population services Decentralization through re-orientating health as a profession and relocating the budget resources (Epp, 2000). Summarily, the concepts of population health promotion, primary health care and health promotion will broadly help in getting solutions to the community in the case study. For instance, those showing signs of anemia, fatigue, and infections of respiratory tract will get help from primary health care system if implemented in the community. The food and water problem in this community can be addressed by the elements of the population health promotion adequately discussed in the paper, and finally the general health status of the community will help in addressing the general health of the community. References Epp, J. (2000). Achieving health for all: A framework for health promotion. Ottawa, Ontario: Health and Welfare Canada. Evans, R. (2001). Why some people healthy and others are not? New York: Aldine De Grayter. Evans, R. (2003). Producing health, consuming health care. Journal of Social Science and Medicine, 31(12). Lalonde, M. (2006). New perspective on the health of Canadians. 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