Health education: historic windows of opportunity
Grant, J.P.
Hygie 11(2 Suppl): 8-14
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0751-7149 PMID: 1618524 Document Number: 320444
In 1991, the Executive Director of UNICEF addressed the World Conference on Health Education in Helsinki, Finland which centered on international cooperation in improving health. Health educators should convince world leaders to apply the money available after reductions in military spending due to the end of the Cold War toward revitalizing health and education systems and alleviating poverty. Another opportunity that they should not let slip away is that more countries are choosing democracy. The international consensus is now leaning toward human centered development. At least 71 national leaders and representatives from 88 other countries have supported the World Summit Plan of Action which emphasizes health education efforts leading toward child survival. This global, political endorsement also presents a plan for social mobilization. Health educators have already contributed greatly to the success of achieving universal child immunization (80%) by the end of 1990. They communicated health education messages via the mass media and traditional channels to motivate individuals and society to immunize their children. UNICEF has 27 goals for the 1990s such as eradication of polio and guinea worm disease. In 1989, UNICEF, WHO, UNESCO, and about 100 other agencies began the Facts for Life initiative by 1st publishing a book. Lay and professional health educators have incorporated its messages into various media: street theater, radio, comics, soap operas, billboards, T-shirts, and bumper stickers. Medical research has shown that individual responsibility for one's own health adds years to life expectancy, e.g., individuals should not smoke. Health educators face the challenge of reaching adolescents, especially since most behavior patterns are established during adolescence. Other challenges include developing effective messages to curb the AIDS pandemic, to motivate hospitals to promote breast feeding, and to encourage world leaders to place children's needs at the top of society's priorities.