Maintaining Physical and Mental Health through Prevention
One important public health initiative is the initiative to inform, educate, and empower people about health issues. In other words, this means to engage in the promotion of health literacy, which is typically associated with preventive care (Lindau, 2002). Health literacy increases the public’s awareness of disease and what steps they can take to combat disease, such as congestive heart failure. By teaching people about eating a proper diet and getting exercise, one can inform, educate and empower the public about how to take care of their health more effectively.
This initiative is particularly significant because so many health issues in the US can be prevented if people were just better informed about what the issues were and how to avoid lifestyle habits that can increase one’s risk for those health issues. In a lot of cases it comes down to simple healthy living, taking care of hygiene, and maintaining good mental health. But people do not know this simple, practical information. They do not know how important it is to have a social support system; they do not know how important it is to eat natural, organic foods or why it is risky to consume a lot of sugar every day. They do not know about the risks of drinking or smoking or risky sexual behavior. They do not realize how one’s environment can impact one’s mental health; or they do not realize how abusive behavior can be found in their own actions towards others. People lack the critical tools to reflect on these matters because they have not received any health literacy in their education. This is why this is such an important initiative: it brings to light some of the common sense facts of health that are neglected in the world today. These facts, if incorporated into one’s lifestyle, can prevent one from experiencing poor health.
References
Lindau, S. T., Tomori, C., Lyons, T., Langseth, L., Bennett, C. L., & Garcia, P. (2002). The association of health literacy with cervical cancer prevention knowledge and health behaviors in a multiethnic cohort of women. American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 186(5), 938-943.
