Health promotion and Sustainable Development

This article discusses the importance of sustainable development in health promotion, opportunities, benefits and challenges of health promotional activities. It also provides information about the policies and programs extended by the promotion of health.

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Health promotion and Sustainable Development

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Health Promotional sector and its activities...............................................................................3
Importance of Sustainable Development in Health Promotional sectors...................................4
Opportunities of Health Promotional activities..........................................................................5
Benefits of Health Promotional activities..................................................................................7
Challenges of Health Promotional activities..............................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Etymologically speaking, the health promotional sector promotes the health of living beings.
It had originated in 1980 by the World Health Organization under the Ottawa charter. The
health promotional sector promotes the health that is it targets in the improvement of the
health and aims at the regulations of the ill practices which deteriorate the health (Barry,
Clarke, Jenkins & Patel, 2013). In order to accomplish this, a wide arena of social, cultural,
economic, political factors have to be taken into consideration so that the needs are satiated
for the fulfillment of this purpose. Being an optimistic concept, the physical, mental and
social strengths and weaknesses are under consideration which affect the health issues mostly
(Ayo, 2012). The promotion of health does not only increase business, but also projects a
healthy and safe of living.
The problem statement associated with this paper is to acknowledge the opportunities, benefit
and challenges associated with the health promotional activities in order to undertake
sustainable development within the sector. The paper aims to provide a clear idea about what
is promotional sector of the health and its activities. It lays down information regarding the
sustainable development in the health promotional sectors along with its opportunities,
benefits and challenges.
Health Promotional sector and its activities
The health promotional sector occupy an important place in the globe because it promotes the
betterment of health of the living. Under the World Health Organization, the Health
Promotion Unit (HPR) is under the department of Chronic Diseases and Health Promotion
(CHP). The policies given below are a part of this sector (Bonell et al., 2014).
The first policy is the National and Community policy which targets that the member states
coordinate with each other so that their programs, monetary push and other proof for the
promotion of health is guaranteed with the desired enforcement. The second policy is the
School youth and youth health policy which targets a particular age groups who are prone to
diseases because of absence of hygiene sense (McPhail-Bell, Bond, Brough & Fredericks,
2015). This is capacitated mainly within the younger generations.
The oral health is also given importance to by creating disease prohibition programs. Oral
health and dental care requires importance effectively. Another program is the Physical
Activity Program which aims at the increased standards of physical activities in the global

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population. This activity extends to the people of ages, men women as well as children. The
other activities which are under the strategy of the heath promotional sector deals with the
Annual Global Move for Health Initiative. This annual program is a noble initiative to bring
about people to do various tests for checking their actual health condition (Dempsey
Bramley, Power & Brown, 2011). The world health day is celebrated on the 10th of may
since 2002 in order to increase the awareness among the public domain the importance of
being healthy and maintaining a good health. This day is observed annually to attract the
notice of the people so that they too can start caring for their health. The above were the
policies framed by this sector to work upon the health conditions of the nation.
Importance of Sustainable Development in Health Promotional sectors
The contemporary era requires sustainable development at every stage to preserve every stage
of life. Sustainable development is the process by which the requirements of the humans
fulfilled by exploitation of the resources, yet they are exploited in such a way that a certain
portion of the resources could be preserved for the future generations to best suit their needs.
The concept of sustainable development is both progressive and optimistic. It targets to
conserve the environment as well as the ecosystem and also aims to satisfy the needs of the
humans. It is an efficient way of usage and preservation of the environment (Knapp, McDaid
& Parsonage, 2011).
Sustainable development can be proved to be highly useful and important in the health
promotional sectors. The UNDP and WHO have evolved certain policies to ensure that there
is sustainable development in the health promotion. This can be done through education in
health, healthy residences, the acts of the sectors and the mobilization of the society. These
factors promote sustainable development and narrows down the inequalities in the nation. It
helps in speeding the advancement of urbanization, globalization. Apart from these the
threats to the environment are also minimized to reachable limits. Infectious and hardened
diseases can be slowed down by increasing immunity within the people is a key factor.
Moreover the increasing pressure of the non-communicable diseases can also be put under
control and not let it spread. These factors have enhanced sustainable development and its
importance which have made it highly crucial for the health promotional activities to adopt
these measures. Good health succeeds to empowerment of women, brings justice accessible
and reduces all sorts of discriminations in the markets (Stevenson & Thompson, 2014). The
social stigmas can also be vanished through sustainable development like hunger, poverty etc.
the impact of sustainable development is thus huge upon the sector of health promotion.

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Opportunities of Health Promotional activities
With advancement of science and technology, the people have started gaining ideas regarding
many sectors. They are becoming more and more health conscious. Therefore the health
promotional sector is booming up in these days. The government is laying stress upon various
policies and programs to enhance the health improvement of the people. The world health
organization is committed to reach its target and increase the longevity of the people by
improving their health conditions.
The opportunities of the health promotion sectors include health care visits in various parts of
the states to create a statistics based upon a survey regarding the health conditions of the
various age groups. Special importance should be laid for the health of women and children,
especially during pregnancy and labor pain. The pre-natal care and post-natal care should be
checked into. The oral health care programs are also included under these programs.
Employment of qualified doctors and nurses are required to be done. Regular vaccination to
the children in the doctor visits is a striking feature. The people suffering from chronic
epidemics should be entitled to regular checkups. The availability of good and unadulterated
food is also required to prevent contamination and origination of various diseases.
Availability of medicines is the ultimate need of the day for the common people (Lorenc et
al., 2012). The nearby hospitals and nursing homes should be well equipped and have the
latest and advanced instruments so that the accurate reports can be brought forth and the right
treatment can be started off. The opportunities include the mental element as well, whereby
the people recruited should have the will to serve the public honestly and to improve their
health conditions.
These are opportunities which indulge in the promotion of the health sector. Participation of
social media, advancement in science and technology are the key instruments which push the
opportunities to achieve success for the targets. These factors create ample opportunities for
the promotion of the health sector.
Benefits of Health Promotional activities
The health promotional activities aids in the improvement in the quality of life led by the
people of this country. There are several benefits of the health promotional activities. Firstly,
when emphasis is laid upon the prohibition of diseases, there is reduction and decrease in the
cost effectiveness. This enables everyone including the office work force, individuals,

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communities and other groups to purchase less and cause savings in money while doing
medical treatment.
With the promotion of the health sector, one gets to know about the different diseases and
they become aware. A knowledge is created in the minds of the people and they tend to
follow a life of rules and regulations which prevent diseases from occurring to them. This is a
direct benefit of the health promotional sector as it also aids in the processes of vaccination,
prohibition of various diseases, counseling of the behavioural patterns to suit the needs of the
society are all inclusive.
The increased awareness amongst the people has created a positive impact in the society.
Being progressive by nature, it helps the people to lead a healthy life. The annual statistics of
the general health report of the people shows that there has been 26% lesser deaths in the past
five years due to the promotional health sector (Kickbusch & Reddy, 2016). Another
statistics reveal that there has been an increase of the health benefits as compared to the
previous years. The absolute benefit of the promotion of health sector is that the general mass
is becoming more and more health conscious. The general mass take efforts to stay healthy
and maintain their health because they want to live a happy place to live in with peace and
harmony. This is done by them without intervention of the government. Thus the promotional
health sector and their activities have worked a great deal in making mass educate themselves
regarding their health issues.
Challenges of Health Promotional activities
Though there is a wide ground of the opportunities and the benefits for the promotion of the
health sector, many challenges and problems crop up in its working. However there has been
present several shortcomings which create obstacles in its regular growth. The first and
foremost challenge faced by this sector is the making of the required workforce which
include the staff, organization and infrastructure for promotion of health. The second
challenge towards the booming promotion of health sector is the vested interest of the various
communities. Under this way, they go out of their leagues and engage in the business
activities for instance if a medicine shop starts selling tobacco or alcohol. This creates an
adverse interest in the society. The ethical aspect in the health sector is also required, but
many hotels do not opt for the right guidelines. The importance of health promotion depends
upon the pragmatic outlook of health promotion. This challenge is easy to be met away with
simply by organizing get together privately.

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The challenges further include to gather the trust about the health promotion sector is the
maintenance of trust between the various communities and the minorities of Australia, there
is a scope of new business ideas but life has come to one stage where they just want to retire
(McQueen, 2014). These attitudes prove to be great challenges in the future. Diversity in
strategies, the increase in the food quality since it was amazing. Apart from these, challenges
are faced by the people whether they really want to work with is a business task. Technical
problems, monetary losses and other issues related to it in the evaluation process which are
designed only for that purpose can fall under the typical challenges faced by almost all the
booming industries. Using up to date methods is essential in the health promotion sector. The
participation of media eases the process of promotion of the health sector. Appropriate means
are required to be taken by the authorities to prevent and overcome these challenges in the
long run.
Conclusion
After a close perusal of the above information given, it can be concluded that promotion of
health and its sustainable development go hand in hand to preserve the health of the people.
This targets to improve the conditions of health of the people in general also make the people
aware of the importance of having a good health. The familiarity with the proverb, health is
wealth is quite significant in this arena. The real wealth of the people are not materials on this
earth. But the secret to real health is a happy and healthy living. Every living being can
remain happy and joyous only if their health is in good condition. The promotion helps in the
betterment, improvement and a scientific way of living amongst the people in the society.
The strategies, activities, policies and programs extended by the promotion of health is a step
forward towards knowing the health and making other people conscious of a smart and
healthy living. The sustainable development should be incorporated in the promotion of the
health sectors because this is key to their success in the promotion, thereby, promoting health
is promoting happiness.

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