Health Promotion Goals

Some of the emerging trends in the health promotion are the shift of the diseases from acute diseases to chronic disease. This has yielded a lot of pressure on health promotion and wellness (Future Trends in Health Promotion, 2015). The health promotion is expected to change focus to strategies that will ensure that health promotion will now be focused on long-term interventions that will enhance behavioural change. People need to be more educated on these diseases. Another eminent trend is the privatization of wellness and health promotion (Future Trends in Health Promotion, 2015). Many private entities are now engaging in health promotion, and this has caused a revolution in the health promotion.

As health professionals, we must look beyond individual attributes of Indigenous Australians to gain a greater understanding and a possible explanation of why there are such high rates of ill health issues such as alcoholism, depression, abuse, shorter life expectancy and higher prevalence of diseases including diabetes, heart disease and obesity in our indigenous population. Looking at just the individual aspects and the biomedical health model, we don’t get the context of Aboriginal health. This is why we need to explore in further detail what events could have created such inequities in Aboriginal health. Other details that we should consider are the historical and cultural factors such as, ‘terra nullius’, dispossession and social

Heart and circulatory conditions contribute most to the disease burden of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and are major contributors to the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and other Australians. Research evidence shows that, as well as having higher rates of cardiac conditions, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have poorer access to health services aimed at preventing and treating cardiac conditions.

The increase in type-2 diabetes in Australia is closely linked to social and cultural factors. One’s cultural background has a major impact on their risk for diabetes, such as the ATSI community. A culture that participates in risk factors of a disease increase the likelihood of a peer being involved in risk behaviours or that the person will be affected by their behaviours. For example, a risk factor for diabetes is smoking, in which the likelihood of being a daily smoker is 2.6 times higher than non-indigenous Australians. Therefore, if there is a culture to smoke among the elders of these communities many generations of Indigenous Australians will continue increasing their likelihood of prevalence, and if they choose not to smoke they still

Obesity in Aboriginal children is developing to be a community and population health concern in Canadian Aboriginal communities. Particularly due to the co-morbidities associated with obesity such as diabetes. Childhood obesity primarily associates with insufficient physical activity and consumption of high calorie dense foods. However, this does not give the true picture of the cause, trend and rates of obesity in Aboriginal children. Numerous factors impart obesity in Aboriginal children and thee health determinants originate from the history of colonization. Colonization and government policies influenced the lifestyle, diet and culture of Aboriginal people and has translated to food insecurity, low income and limited opportunities in Aboriginal populations. Health care professionals have a role in collaborating with Aboriginal communities to provide culturally appropriate sustainable health care as well as, advocate for decolonizing policies and interventions that target the intersecting health

Equality in everything, including health issues, has to be the main feature of the modern world. National health programs of the US operate to ensure adequate and timely treatment of all citizens. Nevertheless, health indicators of some racial and ethnic groups are significantly worse than of the white Americans. It applies to the Hispanic Americans and significantly affects their lives. The current health status of this minority is far from satisfactory and needs improvements through existing programs and the development of new approaches to address

Over the last decade there has been improvements, however in 2012 cardiovascular disease was recognised as the leading cause of death of indigenous individuals and still requires further improvement (Australian Indigenous Health InfoNet 2015). Based on national surveys, there are a number of contributing factors including, smoking, reduced physical activity, poor diet, alcohol consumption, mental health and obesity (Australian Indigenous Health InfoNet 2012). These modifiable risk factors are preventable and need to be further managed through ongoing management, education and health care

Queensland is home to just over 30 per cent of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, equalling to a total 4 per cent of the state’s population1. Over the last decade, cardiovascular disease among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities has slightly decreased2, although documented cardiovascular diseases still remain five times higher than those of non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent1,3. Cardiovascular diseases are more than often encouraged by a large variety of pre-existing illnesses1 such as obesity, renal diseases, diabetes and hypertension4, which are common among indigenous communities4. Early detection is key, as the majority of health problems indigenous communities are undergoing are treatable1,

“Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health,” (The WHO,2005). Health promotion is the process of enabling people to have control over and improve their health. It examines the importance of including ethnic and cultural factors to be incorporated in health. The goal of universal education cannot be achieved while the health needs of all remain unmet. Health protection explains how people maintain their health on a daily basis.

The next interview was of an Asian American family. This is a military family, the father meet, married and brought back to the United States a 23 year old Vietnamese woman. Family is vital to this Asian American family and respect is expected. Over the years, the mother has adapted to some western ways but maintains certain culture values and passed them on to her children. Diet plays a huge part in their health maintenance and protection. The diet manly consists of rice, vegetables and fish. Along with diet, exercise and staying fit is a big part of their ethnic background. The mother stated to me “Don’t you see all the Asian ladies at the gym? We take pride in staying fit.” To them their body is a temple and needs to be cared for. Spirituality of mind body and soul is another significant part of their health. Partaking in meditation, massage therapy and acupuncture are ways to rid the body of imbalance and place it back in balance to fight illness and diseases. Illness may be attributed to organic or physical problems an imbalance of yin and yang, an obstruction of chi (life energy), a failure to be in harmony with nature, punishment for immoral behavior (in this or past lives), or a curse placed by an offended spirit ("Vietnamese Cultural Profile — EthnoMed," n.d.). While this family is westernized in some ways, by going to the doctor and

It is truly said that improving health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders is the longstanding challenge for the Government (Australian Human Rights Commission 2007). Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders experience poor health, they are more prone to get cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, physical inactivity and obesity as compared to non-indigenous Australians (Department of Health and Ageing 2012, p. 6). The gap between the health status of indigenous and non-indigenous people is relatively high, therefore it has been identified as a concern for the community and the Government (Australia’s Health 2014). Social determinants play an important role for the community, for both indigenous and non-indigenous population (Australian

Chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects all Canadians but among the Aboriginal population, the disease pattern and risk factors are different with higher prevalence rates among Aboriginal peoples (Douglas, 2014, p.145). Chronic disease risk factors includes factors such as diet, physical activity which individuals have control over while some other factors individuals have limited control over include the living environment, air pollution, housing, geographical locations, and underlying variables such as employment status, income and poverty similarly influence these factors. All these risk factors interplay to impact the patterns and rates of chronic diseases in all populations

Health promotion is a process, which encourages individuals to increase their knowledge through information and individual choice to recognize and improve their health (WHO, 1986).

Beginning with the final section of the Williams (1997) ‘basic causes’ model, being the health status resulting from the prior sections in this model, cardiovascular disease in Maori will be addressed and the disparities when compared to the dominant group in society. The cardiovascular disease burden falls disproportionately and inequitably on the Maori population (Curtis, Harwood, & Riddell, 2007). Cardiovascular disease accounts for a third of the deaths in Maori people, with it being their most prevalent cause of mortality. Between 2000 and 2004, the death rates for Maori with cardiovascular disease were 2.3 times higher than the rate for non-Maori (Robson & Purdie, 2007). Cardiovascular disease, of all chronic conditions, is the main cause of the disparities in life expectancy increasing between Maori and

The main purpose of health promotion is to heighten people’s motivation to strive for optimal health, while assisting them in making lifestyle modifications that will help them advance their wellbeing to an ideal state. Modifications of the unfavorable way of living can be enabled through a