The World Health Organisation describes health promotion as "...the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. To reach a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, an individual or group must be able to identify and to realise aspirations, to satisfy needs, and to change or cope with the environment..."
The Ottawa Charter identifies three basic strategies for health promotion: advocate, enable, meditate. These strategies are supported by five priority action areas; build healthy public policy, create supportive environments for health, strengthen community action for health, develop personal skills, and re-orient health services.
Australia’s rural regions reflect the variety of Australian life. Despite this variation and some of the perceived advantages of living in a rural area (clean air, less traffic, more relaxed lifestyle), those who live in rural and remote areas generally have poorer health than those living in major cities, this is reflected in higher levels of mortality, disease and health risk factors. Medical services in rural and remote Australia are not as accessible as those in cities and people in these areas are exposed to different health risks.
This is why it is important to have an Area Health Promotion Unit in place in rural communities like the one in the case study. It helps identify priority areas for health in the area and therefore giving more individual a chance to be educated in preventing morbidity and mortality.
The identification of priority areas in health is determined by many different of methods. Studying trends in epidemiological measurements such as mortality and morbidity is part of the decision process. Other considerations need to be taken into account.
And they are:
Social Justice principle
Social justice means that the rights of all people in a community are dealt with fairly and equally. While equal opportunity targets everyone in the community, social...