Healthy societies can only consist of conscious individuals. In order for the society to continue its own development rapidly, it must be able to receive basic health education en masse. Health education should be given to all segments of the society completely. The aim of health education is to create a behavioral change that will meet the needs of the individual and society, ensure that people protect and develop their health for a healthy life, benefit from treatment opportunities and create a positive environment. When these trainings are given regularly zamA healthy life culture begins to form in the society. Health is the most important element for individuals and societies to be happy. Although health may seem like a spontaneous situation, it is necessary to make an effort to be healthy and stay healthy. This effort should be made from the prenatal period. As preventive medicine ensures the continuation of generations in a healthy way, the healthy life culture that people adopt and transfer to other generations is at least as important as preventive medicine. It is the key to enrichment and progress that societies are healthy and can continue to exist in a healthy way in the future.
It is necessary to perceive the concept of health education in a very broad scope. It should be considered not only as a curriculum-based education given in schools, but as a way of life that has completely permeated our lives. In addition, this education should be offered to every member of the society in the same way. Concerning the issue, the World Health Organization stated that health education should be perceived in a broad sense as follows:
“Health education; It is to persuade individuals to adopt and implement the measures to be taken for a healthy life, to accustom them to use the health services offered to them correctly, and to make decisions individually or collectively in order to improve their health status and environment. world Health Organization
Dr. Nuran Elmacı said, “One of the most important factors in the development of civilization is the health behaviors that people learn and practice.” he stated. According to this view of Ms. Nuran, the point of view of people on health education is the basis of development.
When it comes to public health, the health services provided by hospitals and centers providing medical treatment come to mind. However, the concepts of public health and health services should not be confined to such a narrow area. From a broad perspective, the content of health services can be considered primarily as teaching healthy living. A large part of this work is what people have to do before they come to the hospital. The treatments applied in medical centers are only a small part.
“Education of the public about the common health problems in a society, their prevention and control is at the top of the primary health care services.” prof. Dr. Candan Paksoy
The main purpose of health education is to teach the society what needs to be done to protect its own health and to enable it to reconstruct its lifestyle in order to take this responsibility. In this system, most diseases will not have the opportunity to occur and moral and material losses related to diseases will be prevented. In fact, it is a form of development and a huge economic investment across the country. The reason for this is related to the treatment processes of people after they become ill. Ongoing treatments, both in hospitals and at home, are very costly. The drugs and devices used are seriously costly. In addition, human resource investments constitute the biggest expense item since they are continuous. In addition, it is very costly to construct buildings that provide health services and to ensure that the health system is sustainable. Even if the treatment process in the hospital is over, some patients continue to be cared for at home. The process at home is sometimes, with ventilators and patient care equipment possible. Their costs increase the financial burden of both the state and the nation.
Living healthy is not just about progress in the health sciences. However, societies should adopt a healthy life culture or at least put healthy nutrition at the center of life.
“The first item of primary health care services is health education, in the sense of educating the public to prevent and control health problems that are common in the society. Because people's healthy lives are not only dependent on progress in health sciences. It is also very important for them to change their way of life.” Dr. Nuran Elmaci
Topics in health education to be given socially should be:
- human biology
- active life
- Hygiene
- Healthy eating
- Environmental health
- Protection from degenerative diseases
- Protection from accidents
- First aid
- Pregnancy period
- Maternal and child health
- Family planning
- Infectious diseases
- Vaccination
- Unhealthy habits
- premarital period
- Mental health
- Mouth and dental health
- Benefiting from health institutions
- Supporting preventive medicine practices
Giving health education in a certain order will be more effective and permanent. For this reason, it is necessary to determine which segment of the society will be given priority. This order is usually as follows:
- House wifes
- school children
- Organized communities
- village society
- urban society
Choosing a topic and making a training plan are very important. The curriculum must be created in the correct order. First of all, housewives, who have a lot of responsibility in the family, should be given training on issues such as child care, nutrition and cleaning of the living place. In addition, since school-age children are very suitable for learning and training, it is easy to give children the necessary habits by giving health education. These two groups primarily Training ensures effectiveness and permanence.
Today, there are countless resources such as newspapers, television, internet, social media, books, columns, articles and seminars for the society to reach information. With such diversity, it is not possible to hide information. Any news or piece of information can spread rapidly all over the world within hours or even minutes. This period is especially for health information is almost instantaneous. However, this brings some problems. False information can reach hundreds of thousands of people within minutes. This can lead to misdirection of society. Sometimes wrong information hidden in the right information can mislead people. Disinformation (information that is distorted, inaccurate or untrue and intentionally spread) may be intentionally made by some individuals or communities. In order to solve such problems, it is necessary to share the correct information with its scientific source. Information that is of uncertain origin and that is based on feelings should not be shared.
When it comes to information concerning public health, the source of the news should be investigated and, if possible, confirmed by the authorities. Otherwise, irreversible losses may occur. The up-to-dateness of the information, its potential consequences if applied, its scientific confirmation and source must be sought. One should not blindly believe every news or every piece of information. During the pandemic, which has seriously affected humanity in the recent period, how false information is spread and how it harms people stands as an example before us.
Diseases that can occur for many different reasons have sometimes threatened societies in human history. Epidemics have been fought for centuries and humanity has always won. The COVID-19 pandemic, which has recently swept the whole world, has seriously affected the health of some and the economy of others. Humanity has now gained experience in how difficulties can be experienced with the emergence of different pandemics in the future. Even if we cannot get rid of this disease, we hope that the effects of the disease will decrease by gaining herd immunity worldwide. Gaining herd immunity can be possible both with the recovery of many people from the disease and with ongoing vaccination. Vaccines can prevent people from being harmed by many diseases. very important meeting. It protects not only the individual but the society as a whole. It is thanks to vaccines that diseases that have killed or disabled thousands of people in the past are no longer visible.
Although the importance of vaccination is very great, there is a rising opposition to vaccination in the world. The facilitation of communication causes conspiracy theories to spread rapidly. People are constantly bombarded with true and false information. Disinformation is so pervasive that even scientifically proven accurate information has eroded. This puts the future of people at risk. Even if the developed vaccines are tested as much as possible and their positive and negative effects are transferred to the society with scientific data, there will still be insecurity due to the confusion. It should not be forgotten that conspiracy theories spread in society are a mixture of false and correct information. People don't have feelings about vaccines based on scientific data only must decide.
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