Principles of Primary Health Care

Running head: PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE 1
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE
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PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE 2
Introduction
Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder that occurs when the body cannot regulate the
amount of glucose in the blood (homeostasis of glucose levels) and characterized by high
glucose levels in the blood. Diabetes mellitus can be classified into four types namely, the
juvenile onset of diabetes which is insulin dependent (type 1), adult-onset which is non-insulin
dependent (type 11), gestational diabetes mellitus and diabetes mellitus of secondary causes such
as endocrinopathies. Type II, which is the main type of diabetes mellitus occurring after the age
of forty years, is caused by several factors, including genetic and lifestyle factors. Nurses play a
key role in health promotion strategies as identified in Ottawa charter for health promotion
regarding diabetes mellitus. The five principle health promotion strategies are, creating
supportive environments for health, build healthy public policy, develop personal skills,
strengthen community action for health and re-orient health services. This essay looks into how
nurses can use this strategy to facilitate people to enhance and improve control over their health
in regard to the control of diabetes.
Creating a supportive environment
Nurses have a role in creating a supportive environment to promote health in relations to
diabetes, which is a lifestyle disease. A supportive environment involves physical, social,
economic, and political context in regard to where people live (Silva Paraizo et al. 2018). Nurses
can play a role by educating people on what causes diabetes and how this can be reduced by the
creation of an enabling environment. Physical inactivity is one of the leading causes of diabetes
mellitus, and nurses can mitigate this by educating people on how physical activity helps
minimize the chances of diabetes due to sedimentary lifestyle. Encouraging people to walk to
work three or four days a week or cycling to work nurses helps them increase their physical

PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE 3
activity, thereby reducing the risk of diabetes. Change in social activities that people engage in
helping them change their behavior, which greatly impacts on health. Nurses have a role to play
by encouraging participation in social activities such as football and basketball playing by
assisting in the formation of sports groups that people can join and participate in sports activities.
Lifestyle changes in terms of what people eat are basic to the prevention of diabetes, and nurses
have a role to play by education people what feeding lifestyles they can adapt to reduce risks of
diabetes mellitus among them (Mielgo-Ayuso et al. 2017).
Building healthy public policy
Building healthy public policy is fundamental to the reduction of diabetes mellitus, and
nurses have a key role to play in the policy-making process. Policies that affect people’s living
styles are important in the reduction of diabetes morbidity and its management (Doyle, Ward &
Early, 2018). Creation of programs that enable people to get genetic testing in families that have a
genetic predisposition to getting diabetes is vital to controlling diabetes. Nurses can play a role in
this by advising patients who have a history of diabetes mellitus in their families to encourage
their family members to visit the health facility and get genetic testing. Public policies that
encourage physical activity among people such building of bicycle paths along roads and in
towns and addition of mandatory physical exercise programs in schools. Nurses can play an
advisory role in the government during the making of these policies by offering expert advice to
government policymakers. A nutrition labeling policy will help in minimizing diabetes risk
factors associated with food (Seaborn et al. 2016). Nurses have a role to play by educating people
on nutrition linkages to diabetes mellitus, and changing their feeding lifestyles can help fight
diabetes mellitus. A government policy that requires the government to allocate a share of its
budget towards medical camps that educate people and test them for diabetes will help in