Health Promotion among Diverse Populations Essays

The concept of health promotion has emerged with the increasing realisation in society that our health is one of our most valuable personal assets, as well as an asset for society (Crafter, 1997). The Health Promotion Agency (2008) describes health promotion as a process enabling people to

Health Promotion This is the process of allowing people to have more control over their health as this will help improve their health and well-being. It focuses on individual behaviour towards a wide range of social and interventions. Health promotion is how health is shown for example to challenge obesity change 4 life is used so people can have a guidance on how to make their lifestyle healthier. It also shows that health promotion is aimed at individuals whose health is at risk from any diseases from lifestyle factors, which lets individuals take control over their health. By being able to have control over their health it shows individuals what may have happened if nothing was done of it

Due to the focus on children, babies of Mexican decent are born healthier than other races because of the extra emphasis on nutrition that pregnant Mexican mothers set for themselves. Hispanic parents put their children first over their own well-being which clashes with the individualism found in American culture. The Hispanic community has worked to improve their performance in every field of life as “they are building solid lower-middle- and middle-class lives… their education level has been steadily rising, their earnings no longer reflect wide disparities with those of non-Hispanics…” (Chavez, Pg.

3. Corona, R., Gonzalez, T., Cohen, et al. “Richmond Latino Needs Assessment: A Community-University Partnership to Identify Health Concerns and Service Needs for Latino Youth”. J Community Health. 34.(2009): 195-201.

As per Healthy People 2020 most Americans do not consume healthy diets and are not physically active at levels needed to maintain proper health. As a result of these behaviors the nation has experienced a dramatic increase in obesity in the U.S with 1 in 3 adults (34.0%) and 1 and 6 children and adolescents (16.2%) are obese. In addition to grave health consequences of being overweight and obese. It significantly raises medical cost and causes a great burden on the U.S medical care delivery system ("Healthy People 2020," 2014, p. 1).

Americans, resulting in the lowest standard of living in the United States, high rates of

Public health workers from all spectrums can assist in proposed legislation and policies favoring the Latino community as well as increasing efforts for lifestyle changes leading to r4ducing risk factor such as obesity, hypertension and dietary choices. Public health programs will also look to create more strategies and interventions that promote, prolong and encourage a healthier lifestyle while living on a strained budget. In essence, acculturation and cultural lifestyle contributes to higher rates of diabetes among the Latino community.

I have chosen the Hispanic population to discuss and explore what issues and health concerns are most prevelant within this community. The Hispanic population is one of the largest and fastest growing racial minorities in the United States. Growing at such a staggering rate in the year 2015 it was estimated that the number calculated was around 15million. Making up 17% of the nations population the numbers are only expected to expand even larger come the year 2060 to at least 29% ( Barrera G.A , Lopez H. M, 2015). What makes this population so unique is that under the cultural Hispanic umbrella you also have Latinos, European, African and Native American. When it comes to social economics issues they experience a high rate of poverty, unemployment,

The first health disparity I would like to discuss is Oral health interventions among Hispanics, especially among Hispanic children. An article, “Community-based oral health self-care intervention for Hispanic families”, By Hull and other authors, focuses on monitories who are at high risk for poor oral health have dental caries, oral disease and not having much access to dental care based on their socioeconomic status Hull, 2013).

Health promotion is a complicated activity and is challenging to define. It is defined in the Ottawa Charter (WHO 1986, as cited by Naidoo & Wills 2009, p 9) as "the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health". Health promotion disagrees with the long-established model of health. Alternately, health promotion examines how cultural, psychological, socioeconomic and environmental circumstances also impact health. When both information and support is available, the patient is then able to make a knowledgeable decision, hence creating empowerment and an element of self control (Ryan et al.

Socioeconomic factors, social environment, lifestyle behaviors and access to preventive health-care services contribute to health disparities in the Hispanic community (CDC.gov, 2004). Lack fluency with the English language and differences in cultural attitudes between the U.S. health-care system and Hispanic patients also contribute to health disparities.

Definition of Health Promotion is increasing awareness, indentifying alternatives and influencing attitudes of the people, so that they can make an informed decision and change their behaviors to achieve an optimal level of mental, physical and social health. Health promotion is also defined as the process of empowering people to improve and take control of their health to optimize the quality of their lives. Ennis et al (2006) has explained health promotion as emotional, cognitive and behavioral endeavor to promote well being and health of the people. Davis (1995) expresses a deeper perspective in which preventive health science, social environment,

The Hispanic community in the largest minority in the USA and the fastest growing, it is also one with a high incidence of preventable diseases such as Diabetes, periodontitis, colorectal cancer and HIV. Obesity and teen age pregnancy are significantly more prevalent in Hispanic/Latino population as well. Rate of vaccination is also below that of the majority of the population. Addressing their health care makes good public health and economic sense.

outcome of obesity in this community, there needs to be a sufficient understand of Hispanic

The World health Organisation says Health promotion is a method using an assortment of social and environmental interventions to support individuals in managing and improving their own health. (WHO, 2016).